I Could Never
by Lady Carmilla Sanguina
Summary: COMPLETE! It’s Lily and James’ 7th year at Hogwarts they're chosen as Head Students. Will Lily be able to forget their past? What if something came between them? And what happens when you throw a feisty American OC into the mix? Read and see. LJ SOC
1. Chapter One

**A/N:** OMG. So I was going to write a new chapter, and I decided to read over the existing chapters, and well, I realized how bad this chapter really was. I also noticed that I got a lot of hits, but they were mostly on the first chapter, and then they decreased. SO. I think that, people read it, thought it was bad, and then stopped. This was my first fanfic. My first chapter ever. And well, it was less then perfect. SO. I re-typed it. I think it's a lot better; I have a lot more experience now. I took out the song, too. I didn't think it did anything for the story. SO. Here it is. The new, revised first chapter! Enjoy.

Chapter one: What it takes.

Lily was walking down the corridor when she heard jeering. As she turned the corner she saw a big crowd. It seemed to be formed around two people; she figured it was another Gryffindor/Slytherin fight. She noted that they were becoming much more common in these dark times.

So, being Head Girl, it was her duty to try and stop his. Even if she really had no desire to. She pushed forward, through the crowd, into where the fight was happening. What she saw once she had reached the center, brought her the utmost confusion, only to be followed up with anger. James Potter was on top of Tyler Brooks, her boyfriend, punching him. James was actually _punching_ him. _How could he be doing this? And why?_ Well knowing James 'The-Toe-Rag' Potter, he didn't need any reason to be beating on anyone who crossed his path. 'POTTER!' she screamed, 'GET OFF! This instant! What is the meaning of this?' she moved forward to help Tyler up off the ground, and James stood, looking a little embarrassed. She then proceeded to drag them away from the eagerly awaiting crowd. 

'Well, first of all, he's been cheating on you, he talks about you behind your back, and-'

'And why, exactly, should I believe you?' she asked pointedly, 'No, don't answer that. How do I know that this isn't another of your bloody plans to get me to go out with you?'

Of course, she had a point. For the majority of their Hogwarts years, James had been an egotistical jerk. He had never been nice to Lily. He was nice to anyone else, but as soon as he was near Lily, he felt the need to impress her. And let me tell you, his idea of impress, didn't exactly impress Lily.

'I wouldn't lie to you about something like this! He doesn't deserve you! And I knew you wouldn't believe me, so I decided to go straight to the source.' He said, his hazel eyes staring straight into her green ones, pleading with them, to believe him. She had to understand.

Suddenly, Tyler decided it was his turn to argue on his own behalf. 'He's a lying git! Don't believe a word he says, Lils! I could never do anything to hurt you. I love you.' He stated confidently, and reassuringly. He moved forward, with the intentions of embracing Lily, only to be stopped dead as James chose that moment to punch him in the face. Tyler fell back, holding his nose.

'I saw you! You and Serena Chase were out behind Honeyduke's last weekend, snogging!' Tyler's face, although it had been slightly red, upon being punched in the face, paled, looking not guilty, but regretful. Regretful that he and Serena weren't more careful.

'You… you were.. What? NO, no, I trusted you! You said you loved me!' she turned to Tyler, but started backing away, as he tried moved closer to her, yet again. She had to get away. She was going to breakdown, she knew it, and she didn't really fancy doing it in front of an awestruck audience.

James noticed a single tear, rolling down her cheek, from her shinning emerald eyes. He stepped forward, as though he was going to wipe the tear away, and even try and comfort her, when he realized what he was doing, though, he stopped. It pained him to see her like this. In that instant he realized that he wanted to be the one that could make her all better, the one who would be there for her when she was sad, the one to wipe the tears from her eyes and hurt the prat that made her cry.

Then, suddenly Lily turned on the spot and started to run, she ran as fast as her legs could take her, not stopping until she reached the Astronomy Tower. She pushed open the door and stumbled over to the wall, where she slid down to the floor, with a thud, and started to sob. She hated him! Oh, how much she hated him. She had trusted him. And he did this to her? She thought she might never trust a boy again, when suddenly the door burst open and James came stumbling in, slightly out of breath, and a little red in the face.

He looked around and saw her, sitting on the floor, against the wall, crying, and out of breath. He rushed over and sat next to her. He looked at her, the moonlight reflecting off of her luscious auburn hair. _Merlin, she is beautiful, _he couldn't help but think.

'Lily, are you ok?' he said, face full of concern, 'Look, Lily, I'm really sorry. He doesn't know what he's lost. You can do so much better than him. And I'm so sorry you had to find out this way, the stupid git.' He said that last bit more to himself than to her. He wasn't sure how she'd react, but he decided to be bold, and put his arm around her shoulder. He pulled her tight to his side. And to his surprise, she didn't pull away.

Lily was, to say the least, surprised to hear James' words of comfort. And as she looked into his hazel eyes, she realized, he really truly meant them. When he had put his arm around her, she had tensed up at first, but then she had realized that it just felt so right. She had laid her head on his shoulder, before she even realized what she was doing. And they sat there like that for quite some time; eventually though, Lily fell asleep, under the bright moonlight, with James' arm around her, holding her tightly.

_This is how it should be,_ James thought. And when he was sure Lily was asleep, he whispered those three words: the words that can never be taken back, or said without truth to back them up. 381. Three words, eight letters, one meaning.

'I love you.'

**A/N:** Ok. That's it… what did you think? Tell me the truth.

To new readers: Thanks for reading, and I hope that you'll continue to read it. And I LOVE reviews. ;)

To old readers: YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. I know, I haven't updated in a while. But now that I redid this chapter, I am actually motivated to do the next chapter, chapter 5. HANG IN THERE! I'll try and write it in class, since I have nothing else to do.

This is a new beginning. I am newly dedicated to finishing this story! AND I get even more motivated, when people review! And tell me they want a new chapter. It helps immensely.

LOVE TO YOU,

Mrs. Raven Black.


	2. Chapter Two

**-Chapter Two-**

Lily felt the warmth of the morning sun on her closed eyes. She acknowledged the cold hard, stone floor on which she sat. She opened her eyes in shock. Lily looked around, and she realized she was up in the astronomy tower. She then took notice to the muscular arm resting around her shoulders.

Her emerald green eyes followed the arm up to see the sleeping form of James Potter. With a sharp intake of breath, last nights events came flooding back to her. Tyler… he had cheated on her. She had trusted him! James… he had been telling the truth. He seemed so concerned. Was that all an act? Or did he truly care for her?

Lily didn't know what to think anymore. And, unbeknownst to James, just before she drifted to sleep, she thought she heard him say… say that, he loved her. _No that can't be possible,_ she thought, _he hates her! And she him! _ But, maybe, just maybe, he didn't hate her at all. Maybe he really did love her.

There was supposedly a fine line between love and hate. Did they just cross that line? Was this even happening? Perhaps she had fallen asleep studying in the library. Yes that had to be it!

Lily pinched herself only to find that this was not a dream. She then looked over at James. _He is so handsome_, she thought. She gasped, _did I just say that? _She was surprised at herself. No it had to be hormones, that wasn't what she truly thought… was it?

No. She had to stop lying to herself. As Lily looked over at James again, she got the sudden urge to run her hand through his unruly, raven hair.

_Face it Lily, you don't hate him at all, _she told her self. But, she _wanted_ to hate him, she really did. Lily could be so stubborn at times. Her friends had always tried to get her to admit she fancied James. But she always thought it so absurd. Maybe she just didn't want to admit that her friends were right all along. When in truth, she was just scared that she might get hurt, especially after what happened with Tyler. She had said it before, 'James only wants me because he can't have me'. Was that true? Was he going to go out with her for a week then drop for the next pretty face? Was he really that much like Sirius Black?

What was Lily getting her self into? What should she expect from James? She had never taken the chance to get to know him. All she really knew was he was a Marauder, he was Head Boy, he was mischievous, yet he got good grades all the same. She still never understood that, he never took notes or even paid attention in class, yet he was one of the top in their year. She also knew he loved Quidditch, and that it paid off.

Lily glanced over at the rise and fall of James' built chest. She had to admit he did look good. And she had liked the feeling of his arms around her last night. Lily slowly stood up and walked over to a window, and gazed out over the grounds.

Lily looked at the lake, and thought she saw something moving just below the surface, _the Giant Squid_. Lily loved Hogwarts, it was her true home. As much as she loved her parents, her home was not with them. She belonged here, away from the taunts of her older sister, Petunia. Away from the world she had grown up knowing. And in less than a year, she would be gone from Hogwarts for good, out in the real world.

Her thoughts then drifted back to James. What if she did love him? She didn't want to go into this cruel world alone. And she was not going back to her parents, she couldn't. She needed someone to love her, she needed….. Somewhere to belong. She could give James a chance; see if it truly was love. Or she could turn him down, like she had so many times before. Now she had a big decision to make.

Just then she heard James stir behind her. She turned slowly, only to see those mischievous Hazel eyes, looking back at her. They glittered with happiness, and laughter. She almost melted on the spot, at a loss for words. They just stood there looking at each other.


	3. Chapter Three

**-Chapter Three-**

James woke from an uncomfortable sleep. Then he realized why it was so uncomfortable, he was sleeping on the floor in the Astronomy tower.

He mumbled incoherently, and then looked up into the greenest of green eyes. Lily. She held a look of shock and desire on her face. Shock he could understand, but desire? Where had that come from?

James slowly stood, never once breaking eye contact. He moved forward slowly, a look of concern coated his face. Then he stopped, not a foot from Lily who seemed to be rooted to the spot. Very suddenly he turned and walked out the door.

Once in the corridor, James set off towards Gryffindor Tower. When he reached the portrait whole, he hastily supplied a password, and entered quickly. He went straight to the stairs leading up to the 7th year boy's dormitory.

He swung open the door and went straight for his bed ignoring the calls Sirius was sending.

'PRONGS! hey, Mate. Where've you been alllllllll night?' asked Sirius waggling his eyebrows suggestively. James didn't answer; he didn't want to talk about it.

'Fine, don't answer but just so you know, WE know that you were not the _only_ 7th year missing from their dorm, last night.' continued Sirius. He was determined to get some information out of James.

'Sirius. Leave him alone, he obviously doesn't want to talk about it, and especially not to you.' Said Remus, casually.

'Come on Pron- HEY! Why would he NOT want to talk to me?' demanded Sirius. James decided to go to breakfast early, Sirius didn't even notice him leave, he was to busy fighting with Remus.

There were only a couple of students all ready in the Great Hall when James arrived. He walked over to the Gryffindor table and started piling food on his plate.

James stayed for awhile, even after he was done eating. The Hall slowly began to fill up around him. That's when Lily walked in with some of her friends. She looked so beautiful; she didn't look as cheery as she normally did, though. When she glanced over at James, he quickly turned away, and tried to act casual, as she came over to him.

'Hi, Po- er I mean James.' She said as if it were hard to use his first name. James looked slowly up at her, not sure what to expect. He was surprised to see she looked nervous.

'Hi, Lily.' He said it with the confidence she apparently lacked. 'What's up?'

'Umm well I wanted to know if you could, erm well cam you meet me in the uhh entrance hall when your done?' she was definitely lacking confidence. So this is why she was nervous.

'Sure.' Was all James said and she turned and walked up the table to meet her friends. When James turned back to his empty plate he was instead greeted with two curious faces.

'What was th-'Sirius started but Remus cut in.

'What happened last night? I've heard some... rumors but I want the facts.' Remus was very persuasive, so James told them everything. Sirius gaped at him.

'You told her you loved her?'

'Yes, but she was sleeping by then, I think.'

'And so now she wants to talk to you… alone?'

'Yes Sirius, I didn't think it would be this hard to understand.'

'HEY. Not you too, you can't all just go and make fun of my small brain capacity. I don't have that much room for anything. But you would know. What are you looking at?'

'That didn't even make any sense!' Remus and Sirius got into these little fights a lot.

'There you go again, using your big brain against Me.' said Sirius, with mock hurt obvious I his voice.

Remus sighed in defeat. 'What ever. Hey? Where'd James go?' and as they looked up James was walking out of the hall, to meet Lily.

In the Hall Lily was waiting for him, she smiled as she saw him coming. She looked so beautiful when she smiled, it made James smile.

'Hi,' She said.

'Hey, you wanted to see me?' it was hard for James to not be cocky around her, but Remus told him that he had to stop.

'Umm yeah, do you wanna go for a walk?' as she pointed towards the front doors. 'Sure.'

As they opened the front doors, a cold gust of autumn air hit them. As they walked down the front steps, Lily noticed how beautiful the grounds looked, with the different colored leaves on the trees, and on the ground. They started off towards the lake.

There was a comfortable silence, but it still bothered James, he had to say something. 'Sooo…'

'Oh, sorry I was just so caught up in how beautiful it is out here. I can't believe this is all ready our last year.'

James sighed, he knew this wasn't why she wanted to talk to him, but he decided to go along with it.

'Yeah, time really flies….. Do you have any idea what you're going to do after Hogwarts?' It was a bit personal, but she brought it up.

'Oh umm, well I always thought it would be nice to be a Healer, but have to be highly recommended for that. And you have to have perfect grades.'

'Uhh hello, _you_ have perfect grades and I'm sure if you asked any of our teachers they would recommend you.' At this, Lily blushed slightly.

It was true; she was one of the top students in her year. And all the teachers loved her. Except maybe, Professor Souder, the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.

But she didn't really need a defense recommendation, and there would be no problem getting Professor Slughorn, the potions master, to do it. After all she was in The Slug club. _But wait, I'm getting completely off track here,_ thought Lily. But she couldn't help herself.

'Maybe so, but what about you? What do you want to do?' Lily had always wondered what the Famous James Potter had planned for him self. _Quidditch no doubt_, thought Lily bitterly.

'Actually I want to be an Auror. Like my father was.'

Lily felt horrible. She had just stereotyped him in the worst way, she had always seen him as a conceited jock, and just assumed that he would chose that career path, But how she was wrong.

'No, I don't want to continue Quidditch; it was just a side thing, you know, for fun. I love playing Quidditch but I would never want to build my whole life around it.'

Lily stared at him. 'How did you know I was going to say that?'

James chuckled. 'Its ok, a lot of people expect that from me, but no I've always wanted to be an Auror. Since I was little, and then especially after… after my dad died.'

He looked really sad now, and Lily felt bad for bringing it up. 'Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't know.'

'It's ok.' He faked a smile, but Lily could tell he was hurting.

'Oh well… right, the reason I wanted to talk to you was, I wanted to erm well…. Thanks.' She looked away.

James was confused. 'For what?'

'Oh well for trying to tell me the truth, about Tyler and I'm also sorry for calling you a liar. I should have trusted you.'

'Oh, well you don't have to be sorry; I can understand why you wouldn't want to believe me.'

'Oh' this was followed by an awkward silence. Lily shivered.

'Umm, well its kinda cold out here, do you want to go back in?' asked James, breaking the silence.

'Yeah, sure.' And with that they walked up the stone steps in silence.


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: **You must know it by now, but I don't own anything you recognize.

**-Chapter Four-**

As the weeks passed, Lily and James were spending more and more time together. The Head students get their own common room to share, plus their own dorms. At the beginning of the year, upon getting this information, Lily was, for lack of a better word, Disturbed.

James never went anywhere without his sidekicks, the Marauders, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. (AN: I despise Peter. He will only be mentioned once or twice, but for the most part, I'm leaving him out.)

Sirius Black stood to be the only Gryffindor more conceited then James. He went out with a different girl every week. And it didn't help his over sized ego that they had fan clubs for him. He was tall and toned, like James. He had long black hair, and chocolate brown eyes.

Remus Lupin is the nicest of all the Marauders. He's really smart too. He wasn't arrogant, like his friends, either. Remus was shorter than James and Sirius. He had sandy brown hair, and grey eyes.

Then there was Peter. To this day, no one knows why he was a Marauder. He liked it because it gave him fame, being friends with James and Sirius. But what everyone wanted to know was, why did they keep him around? Peter was the shortest, and chubbiest of them all. He had dark brown hair, and watery blue eyes.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, Lily was in the seventh year girl's dorm, with her friends, Jade and Adrienne. They were going into Hogsmede today.

'So, Lils, when are you going to admit it?' pried Adrienne.

Adrienne was one of Lily's dearest friends. She was tall and lean. She had sleek black shoulder-length hair; it had blue streaked into it. She had smooth olive skin, and dark moss-green eyes. She is the one of the star beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

'Admit what?' questioned Lily.

'You know what!' added Jade, who had been quietly reading up until this point.

Jade was Lily's other best friend. She was tall, with short brown and red streaked hair. She liked to stand out. She had dark skin, and wore contacts that made her eyes purple.

Lily shot confused glances at the pair. 'What are you guys talking about?'

Finally, Jade gave in. 'You haven't stopped talking about James since you got here! When are you going to admit it? You fancy him! It's more then obvious.'

Lily's cheeks got warm. 'I do not. Well I mean, of course I like him, but not the way you think. We're just friends.'

'Sure you are. You just keep telling yourself that.' Adrienne added with a wink. 'Come on, we're wasting time.' And they left down the spiral staircase to the common room.

Meanwhile, a similar conversation was going on in the Boy's Dormitory.

'We've been hanging out a lot. I think she considers me a friend; especially since we were paired together for that potions project. She's really good at potions.'

'Yes. You've now mentioned that….. Seven times!' stated Sirius as he held up eight fingers. 'Can't we talk about something else for a change? How about… Quidditch!'

'Yeah... I should teach Lily how to play Quidditch! Good idea.'

As Sirius muttered to himself, 'That's NOT what I meant. We should do a Prank! We haven't done one in ages. They must think we've lost our touch.'

Remus stood up. 'Come on, we should get going.'

'Oh yeah, Hogsmede.

The girls reached Hogsmede, with just enough time to go into the Three Broom Sticks, before it started to rain. When they opened the door, they saw that most of their classmates had decided to seek shelter there, as well. Jade looked around, annoyed.

'There's one,' she said pointing to a two person booth in the corner. 'We'll make it work.' She assured them, as they squeezed between tables to reach it. But just as they were about to claim it as there own, someone stepped right in front of them.

**AN: Gawd. I'm so sorry you guys. Reading back over this story, I see a lot of these earlier chapters are painfully short. I'M TRULY SORRY. So, to new readers, PLEASE don't be discouraged, I swear it gets better. Thanks SO much.**

**Love, Lady Carmilla**


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own the Harry Potter series. I just write stories about it.

**-Chapter Five-**

Jade looked up, only to meet the dazzling hazel eyes of one, James Potter. Not to far behind was, Sirius and Remus.

'Hello, ladies,' said Sirius, stepping in front of James. Everyone knew that Jade fancied Sirius. Well, that is, everyone except, Jade and Sirius. He flashed them a smile.

'How did you get here so fast? We left long before you.' Sirius smiled at Jade's confusion.

'What can we say? We're magical, babe.' He flashed her another trademark smile. Lily and Adrienne both realized it wasn't good for her to be this close to him, so, they pulled her over to a six person booth that just opened up. And to their dismay, the boys followed.

'Are these seats saved?' asked James, politely, even though, they clearly weren't. Lily blushed.

'Uh, no,' she stuttered. Adrienne had to suppress a laugh, Remus noticed, and smiled. They sat down with them, and ordered six butterbeers.

Jade, took notice first, that they seemed to be missing a Marauder.

'Where's Peter?' She wasn't really concerned, or anything, actually, she was actually relived that he wasn't here, he was always staring at her, it was really kind of creepy, she was just curious. Sirius was the first to answer.

'I dunno... He told us that he wasn't _feeling well_,' he used his mock Peter voice. 'He told us to go on without him.'

And then they sat in silence. Their butterbeers came, and they drank, saying very few words. It seemed to be bothering Sirius, though, so he decided to start a conversation of his own.

'So... Lily. Dating anyone?' James nearly choked on his butterbeer, and Lily blushed profusely. Jade sat straight up, curious to know why Sirius was so interested in Lily's love life.

'Uh... No... Why?' Lily was a little afraid to find out why, but she asked anyways.

'Hmm. No reason.' He said thoughtfully, which was strange in itself; Sirius, being thoughtful. 'So, we're having a little 'get together' tonight, you know, in honor of Gryffindor winning the game today. You ladies wanna come?' James looked confused.

Jade was the first to answer, 'Sure. We'd love to.'

'Great, starts at eleven, in the Common Room. Fifth years and up. Spread it around.' And with that he stood up. 'We've got to get some supplies,' he turned to the other two, 'Come on, boys.'

At about 10:30, the girls started to get ready. Fixed their make-up, checked their hair, changed their outfits fifteen times, etc.

Finally, at 11:00, they headed down to the Common Room. They could already hear the music. The Common Room was already filling up when they got there. They noticed that there were actually people from the other houses there. No Slytherin's, of course, but there were a few Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs, here and there.

There was a long table set against one of the far walls. It was covered in food and drinks, Butterbeer, from the Three Broomsticks, candies from Honeyduke's and other assorted foods that looked like they came straight from the kitchen. It was amazing. The Marauders really knew how to throw a party.

The girls walked over to the table with the intentions of getting some Butterbeers, but before they could, Sirius stepped in front of them.

'Hello ladies, enjoying the party?' he asked them. He was actually a little nervous. He hid it well though, so the girls never even noticed.

'We just got here. We were _trying_ to get Butterbeers...' Lily gave him a meaningful look.

'Ah yes,' he said smoothly. 'Let me take care of that.' He moved to get out four Butterbeers, he handed them each one, and opened one for himself. And so they drank. No one was saying anything. Then, someone came over. Sirius saw his window of opportunity, and took it.

'Prongs, Baby!' Sirius winked at James as he approached. Sirius had planned this party with hopes that James might make a move to further his relationship with Lily. James was really starting to annoy his with all his 'I-think-I-love-Lily-but-she-doesn't-love-me' business.

'Hey Jade, Adrienne, Lily.' He nodded them each a hello, his eyes lingering on Lily. Sirius gave the other two a look, and they backed away quietly. Lily and James were too wrapped up in each others presence to even notice.

'So, having fun?' James asked.

'Not really,' she admitted. 'Oh, I mean, no offense, we just got here.' She added guiltily.

James smiled. 'That's ok; this is all Sirius' work. We didn't even know about it until he told you.'

'Oh, I see.' She didn't know what else to say. She's not usually this nervous around him, what was going on? Then she thought back to the first night of their new friendship. When he had said he loved her. Was it the truth? She had to know.

'Can we… Go somewhere more... private, perhaps?' she said it before really thinking about how it would sound. James looked surprised, but pleased? _Ugh, Men_.

'Sure. Stay right here.' And he ran up the stairs to his dorm.

He was back in less than a minute, and his pocket was bulged. He led her over to the corner of the room that was hidden from view. He pulled out a silvery cloak and threw it over them. He then led her to the portrait hole.

'Whaa…? Merlin! An Invisibility Cloak? THAT'S IT! That's how you do it isn't it?!' she was in awe, but she was also a little disappointed in herself for not thinking that they might have an invisibility cloak.

'Hush, will you? It's after hours, incase you haven't noticed.' His voice was strict, yet playful. He wanted to get to his destination without being caught. 'And yes, that's how we do it.'

'Where are we going?' she whispered now.

'You'll see.' Lily couldn't see his face, but she could here the grin in his voice. They continued up the corridor to the Room of Requirements.

Once inside, they settled into a nice comfy couch. Of course, James had to explain where they were. After a while, it was silent again.

'So... what did you want to talk about?' James asked, voice full of curiosity.

'Oh, right well. That night, a few weeks back, with Tyler,' she hesitated. 'I think I heard you say that, well, that you loved me. She looked at her hands, which were in her lap.

James' eyes went wide. 'You- You heard that?' his voice was just above a whisper.

So, he had said it after all. And by the way he was acting, she figured it must have been the truth. So, she did the only thing she could think to do. She leaned over and kissed him, lightly on the lips. She then paused, not sure what to do.

James was, to say the least, shocked when Lily kissed him. When she pulled back he felt a strange sense of sorrow, and loss. The only thing he could think of to fix it was to kiss her back. So, he leaned forward, and touched his lips to hers. As soon as they touched lips, electricity seemed to spark wherever their skin touched. Lips, hands, knees. The room seemed to fill with electricity.

James moved his hand to the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him. James then slid his tongue along her bottom lip. She let his tongue slip into her mouth, with a rush of adrenaline. He let his tongue explore her mouth, memorizing it. He never wanted to forget. Lily then giggled, ruining the moment completely.

'What?' was all he said.

'Oh nothing. I just thought it was funny that we, of all people, were here doing this, of all things.' She admitted.

'Why is that funny?' he questioned.

'Because,' she said, 'because I thought I always hated you. So, I guess it's kind of ironic.' She blushed.

'Oh, well, I have something to ask you.' He said, grinning.

'Oh really, and what might that be?' she asked even though she thought she already knew what he was going to ask.

'Hey, Evans, you wanna go out with me?' his eyes sparkled with laughter.

'Well Potter, you got me. I guess you win,' she thought she may as well make this good. 'YES,YES! Your charm, it's too overwhelming, I can't hold out any longer!'

And with that she jumped on him, and they fell back on the couch.

'I knew you'd come around, Evans,' he chuckled, 'no one can resist the Potter Charm.' And he kissed her again.

----------X----------

Sirius had left Lily and James alone with hopes that he would make his move. He saw James sprint up the stairs, and knew that the bulge in his pocket when he retuned was the invisibility cloak. James had thought he was being sneaky, but Sirius saw the two of them disappear under the cloak, and leave out the portrait hole. As soon as they were gone, he ran up for the Marauder's Map.

He soon found their dots headed for the Room of Requirements. _They sure move fast_, he thought with a chuckle. Just then he heard the door close. Sirius snapped around to see who had entered. It was Remus.

'What are you laughing at?' he questioned. Every time Sirius was found alone in the dorm laughing, he had done something. Sirius showed Remus the map. Remus chuckled, the dots with the names 'Lily Evans' and 'James Potter' were smooshed together.

'Go Prongs!' Sirius yelled, thoughtlessly.

'We should go back down; you have a party to host,' Remus reminded him, and they set off down the staircase.


	6. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter, obviously. I own only the plot and the characters you don't recognize.

**-Chapter Six-**

By breakfast the next morning, everyone was buzzing with the news on the latest couple to grace the halls of Hogwarts. Lily Evans and James Potter. Rumors spread like the plague. Many girls were left heartbroken. James Potter was to some, a god. And even if they couldn't have him, they felt better knowing that no one else did.

'I heard she used a Love Potion on him. He's doing this against his will!' said one of the many members of one of the many fan clubs that congregated behind closed doors at Hogwarts. This particular club happened to be James Lovers Anonymous (JLA). It was open discussion time. As soon as she heard the news, the president, Amber Wilkins, informed the club members of an emergency meeting. A surge of noise erupted as the girls turned to their neighbors to discuss this new theory.

'Girls, Girls please. Keep it together. We have a plan,' Amber assured them.

'Wait, Yo- err, _we_ have a plan? What is it? It's not anything cruel is it? I mean it's unfair,' a beautiful girl in the back that no one had seen before, voiced her opinion.

'Of course, we aren't like those horrid obsessed JPFL's. We have limits, you know, you silly girl,' she said, as though it was obvious. 'Who are you anyways?'

'Oh, hey, yeah. I'm new here. Just transferred from Salem Academy,' at the mention of Salem Academy, some girls let gasps slip from their pink lip-sticked lips. Salem was an infamous wizardry school in the U.S. All of the older girls knew what kind of people came from Salem. 'The name's Audrey. But you can call me... Well, you can call me whatever the hell you want, I don't really care.'

'Well then, what are you doing here?' asked a snobby-looking girl in the front.

Audrey had long soft brown hair. It was naturally curly towards the ends. She had lovely brown eyes. She was tall, and she wore her street clothes; long blue jeans, Chuck Taylor's, and a Beatles shirt. She didn't look like anything you would see in the streets of London. You could just tell she was American. There was just something about her. Maybe it was her cocky attitude.

'Why the hell should I tell you?' The girl was surprised, to say the least.

'It was just a question, goodness.'

Audrey didn't like the way they were all so proper. In reality, they weren't even that proper, but it was a big change from the rowdy and rude students from SA. And well, compared to her, they were proper. But then she remembered what her Uncle had said, and what the conditions of her coming here were.

'Ok, sorry. I got kicked out of SA,' she grinned slightly. She seemed proud. The other girls exchanged looks. 'But I'm so not going into that. And well this is basically the only place I could go. Oh, and Albus told me that some random clubs were around here. I thought I'd check it out. There isn't really anything I like, though, that I've seen so far. Who is this guy you stalkers are all obsessed with, anyway?'

'Albus? Do you mean the Headmaster? As in Albus Dumbledore?' One girl managed to ask what a lot of them were thinking.

'Chyeah. Oh, right. You guys don't call him that, do ya? He's my uncle. That's the only reason I could come here. No one else wanted to have to deal with me, after they saw my rec-'

'Wait, did you call us**STALKERS**?! We are _not_ bloody stalkers!' said the girl, realizing what she had said.

'Wow, so you're kinda slow, aren't you? So… who is he?'

'James Potter.'

'Do you have like, a picture or something… What does he look like?' The girls stared. One moved to open a book. Inside the book, there were pictures of James, and what appeared to be his friends.

'And you said you're _not _stalkers?' The girl blushed.

----------X----------

'So, I heard there's some new girl, mate. I heard she got kicked out of Salem! Heard she's hot,' Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at James. Sirius was like a girl with his gossip.

'Hmm. I see, and did you also hear that I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND,' James was already getting sick of this.

'Oh, yeah,' Sirius had forgotten, again.

Just then, and girl walked into the great hall and looked around. Her eyes rested on James, she smiled and walked over to him. She sat across from Sirius, and next to James.

Sirius took one look at her and knew that she had to be the American. He looked and James and held his hand up so she wouldn't know that he was pointing at her. He mouthed the words 'That's her' to James, but she was looking right at him.

'I can see what you're doing.' Sirius dropped his hand and looked around at her.

'Well hello there. I didn't even see you walk in. I'm Sirius.' He put out his hand, but she ignored it and looked to James.

'You Potter?' she asked him roughly.

'Maybe, who wants to know?' Why did _she_ want to know who _he _was?

'I'm Audrey.'

'I see, Audrey, a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl,' Sirius was really laying it on thick. Audrey glared at him.

'What did you say your name was? Serious?'

'It's Sirius, but you can call me anything you want, Babe,' he flashed her a smile.

'I see, well then, I think I'll call you Ass. How does that sound, Ass?' Sirius actually flinched, but tried to hide it.

'Sure, if that's what you want, Babe…' trying to still sound confident.

'And do not, call me Babe. I will break your balls off.' This girl meant business. No wonder she got kicked out of Salem. She turned back to James.

'Why did you want to know?' he asked her.

'Oh, well I stumbled into one of your fan clubs' emergency meetings. They are seriously freaky. They had a book full of pictures of you,' she turned to Sirius. 'There were pictures of you, too. But anyways, they like worship you. So I thought I'd try and find out what was so great. I don't see it,' she said, looking back at James.

She was looking at him closely. He was handsome, she had to admit. One of the pictures she had seen in the book was of him playing Quidditch. It really paid off, it seems. And even though she was being thoroughly rude to his friend, he was handsome as well. She would probably never admit it though.

She realized she was staring at James, when someone walked over and sat across from them, snapping her out of her thoughts.

The girl had long red hair, and beautiful green eyes. Audrey had always wished she had green eyes. She got stuck with stupid brown ones. The girl was staring at her, with an unkind look on her pretty face. Audrey recognized her at once; she had been in a few of the photos that were in the book.

'What are you looking at?' she snapped. The girl was taken aback. James intervened.

'Lily, this is Audrey, she just transferred from Salem Academy. Audrey, this is Lily,' he introduced.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Harry Potter, then why the hell would I be writing stories about it on here?

**-Chapter Seven-**

Lily woke up with a strange feeling of complete happiness. She just couldn't put her finger on it. Why was she so damn happy? She sat up in her bad and looked around, it was nearly 10 o'clock. Once she showered and dressed, she realized how hungry she was, so she decided to go get some breakfast.

When she entered the common room though, she was startled to see a strange silvery something lying on the couch. She walked over and picked it up. She gasped; the invisibility cloak. And it all came flooding back to her; James. That's why she was so happy. She was now James Potter's girlfriend. She smiled at the thought, and started to walk down to the Great Hall to be with him.

When she entered the Great Hall though, she was surprised to see that he was sitting next to another girl. James was talking to Sirius, and the girl was actually _gazing _at him. Lily felt a sudden pang of jealousy.

She walked over to them, and sat next to Sirius, and across from the girl, even though what she really wanted was to be close to James. The girl was really very pretty. Without even realizing it, though, Lily gave the girl a dirty look.

'What are you looking at?' she snarled. Lily was caught off guard, to say the least. James intervened.

'Ah, Lily, this is Audrey, she just transferred from Salem Academy. Audrey, this is Lily, my _girlfriend_,' he said.

Lily's heart skipped a beat. He had called her his girlfriend; she couldn't hold back the smile that ensued. Audrey noticed.

'What are you so damn happy about?' she was _really_ getting on Lily's nerves.

'Uh nothing, but do you have to be so bloody rude?' Lily snapped. James could see this wasn't going to end well, so he decided it was time for them to leave.

'Come on, Lils. Don't we have some... homework to finish?' he gave her a meaningful look. She missed it.

'No. Unless you didn't finish your potions ess- OH. Yeah.' James got up and Lily quickly followed suit.

'Well it was nice meeting you, Audrey,' he then turned to Sirius, 'See you later, Ass.' He added with a grin. And they left the Great Hall together.

Once they were gone, Audrey turned to Sirius. It was obvious that he fancied her, or at the least, he wanted in her pants. Audrey decided to use this to her advantage.

'Who was that?' she asked, rather politely. If Sirius hadn't been so startled by the fact that she was talking to him, he probably would have thought something was wrong.

'Lily,' he said simply.

'Well I knew that, he did introduce her. She's his girlfriend?' She asked nonchalantly.

'Yes.' He didn't want to overstep his boundaries. He was refraining from being cocky by saying as few words as possible.

'So… Did they just leave to have sex, or something?' she asked bluntly.

Sirius looked alarmed at the thought. He didn't really fancy picturing his best mate shagging his girlfriend. He had a very active imagination.

'They only _just_ started going out yesterday,' he said, trying to convince himself more than her.

'So what? I've heard about you Marauders. And I also happen to know that they have their own living quarters.' She looked at him and waggled her eyebrows.

Just then, Remus walked over and took the seat next to Audrey.

'And where, exactly, have you been, Remmy?' Sirius asked, sounding like a worried mother.

'Where do you think I was? I was sleeping.' He turned to look at Audrey, and then looked back at Sirius. Sirius sighed.

'Moony, this is Audrey, Audrey, this is-' he began, only to be interrupted.

'I can introduce myself, thank you very much,' she snapped. 'Hello,' she said, 'I'm Audrey.'

'Nice to meet you,' was all Remus could think to say.

'What the bloody hell is your problem?!' Sirius burst out, startling both Remus and Audrey.

'I- What do you mean?' she said mumbled. As she clearly knew what he meant.

'You haven't stopped acting like a git since we met.' He reminded her.

'Oh, well, about that…' she said sheepishly, 'I was in a bad mood. Um, I'm er… sor-' she stopped very suddenly, and her eyes seemed to glaze over, and her body went rigid in her seat. Then, as suddenly as it happened, it stopped, and she snapped her head forward. She looked utterly shocked. Her eyes held a strong look of fear. She stood very suddenly.

'Uh, sorry. I just remembered,' she said trying to hide her emotions. 'I have to go to... a meeting, with uh.. Dumbledore. Yeah, see you later.' And she rushed out of the without another word.

Audrey ran from the Great Hall to her uncle's office without stopping, and ignoring the stares she was receiving. Once she reached the stone gargoyles, she recited the password that her uncle had given her, and continued up the stairs to meet him.

The door was ajar; she pushed it open to reveal the Headmaster with his wand to his temple, drawing long threads of silvery memories from it.

'Ah, yes, Audrey. I expected I would be seeing you. What can I do for you?' he turned to her. Audrey knew he was a skilled Legilimens, so she was sure not to make eye contact.

'I… had another vision, Uncle.'


	8. Chapter Eight

**A/N: Ok, well I got this up rather fast, if I do say so myself. It's mostly Lily and James throughout. With fluff. I was in the mood. So, there's definitely fluff. Apparently, I was feeling really girly when I wrote this, weird, huh? Lol... Ok, ENJOY!**

**I dedicate this chapter to: **who you calling girly

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Harry Potter.**

**-Chapter Eight-**

As the days grew colder, Audrey got closer and closer to the Marauders. She was one of the only girls to ever get this close to the Marauders without actually dating one of them. Their classmates were sure that there had to be _something_ going on.

She really fit in with all of them. She loved making trouble and planning pranks, which set her right in with Sirius. She was a brilliant Quidditch player; so naturally, she got on with James great. She loved reading, and she was really very interesting to talk to, which matched her to Remus, almost perfectly. She even got along with Peter, they both loved Wizard Chess. Many became jealous of her instant popularity with the Marauders.

One person became specifically jealous of her relationship with James. While it was obvious that James loved Lily, what she really wanted more than anything, was to be his _best_ friend. She wouldn't even have minded being second to Sirius, it would have been splendid. Lily didn't see that happening, though, since that soon became Audrey's spot.

Sure, they had gotten past the resentment they had shown when they first met, but Lily didn't really see her as a friend, she saw her as a threat.

Lily kept trying to casually bring it up with James, but she just couldn't do it. She was going to try again tonight, after their meeting with Dumbledore, but she settled with the thought that she was just imagining it all.

It was 7:45, and she needed to be in the Headmaster's office by 8:00, so she quickly checked her appearance, and left to meet them.

Lily clambered out of the common room, and looked up the corridor, only to see James' retreating form. Figuring they may as well walk together, she called out to him.

'Hey, Potter!' her voice echoed through the corridor, perhaps a bit louder than she had expected.

James heard his name, and spun around. He sighed with relief when he realized it was just Lily. He stopped, and waited for her to catch up. Once she did, he bent down, and kissed her lightly on the lips, as was their custom.

They both whipped around though, when they heard someone behind them.

'You're a brave one, aren't you, Potter,' said the greasy form of Severus Snape. 'Kissing a Mudblood? Aren't you afraid she'll _infect_ you?' he spat.

'Why you-' and he started towards him, wand out, only to be pulled back by Lily. He looked down at her.

'Don't, just give him detention or something,' she reasoned. 'It's not worth it.' James grunted.

'100 points from Slytherin! Bloody Prat, you just got lucky this time, Snivellus.'

'You think I _care _about the bloody House Points?' he sneered. And he headed back towards the dungeons, probably to where the Slytherin Common Room was.

'Why do you just let him do that to you, Lils?' he asked. Lily looked up into his eyes, he looked really upset.

'It doesn't really bother me, anymore. I'm just so used to it, I guess…' she looked at the floor. 'Come on, we're late.'

And they continued to the Headmaster's office without another word.

'Ah, welcome, my Head Students,' Dumbledore was waiting for them, when they arrived. 'Please, come inside.'

Once inside, Dumbledore resumed his usual seat behind his large oak desk, and Lily and James took seats in the comfortable armchairs in front of the desk.

Dumbledore picked up his half-moon spectacles from the desk, and placed them on his nose.

'Now, down to business, we've got no time to waste, I have another affair.' He said pleasantly.

'I realize we haven't met all together in quite a while. We have many things to discuss,' he informed them. 'Now, first and foremost, the annual Christmas ball. It needs tending to. I do believe the two of you made some plans earlier in the year?'

They both nodded, in unison.

'Yes, well, I do believe it is gaining on us,' his eyes sparkled. 'The two of you will need to work out the kinks; food, decorations, entertainment, etcetera, etcetera. Also, I think it would be a splendid idea to have a Hogsmede weekend before we get out for the holidays, so that everyone has the chance to get anything they may need.'

'Uh, that's a good idea, Sir,' was all James managed to say. Dumbledore smiled.

'Well, that certainly did not take as long as I had expected… Lemon Drop?' he asked, holding out a tin of what appeared to be, well, Lemon Drops.

'Uh, thanks, Sir,' Lily took one. She noticed the look on James' face; she poked him in the side.

'Oh, yeah, thanks!' and he grabbed one, as well.

'Excellent. Well, I must be off; I trust the two of you to prepare a grand affair. Good luck.' And with that, he shoed them out the door.

'That was… Strange,' James commented.

'Yes, indeed. Let's go, we have a lot to do.' And with that, they set off for the Head Dorms.

**----------X----------**

'Do you want a Butterbeer?' Lily and James had been working on the Christmas ball for a good two hours, in James' room.

'How do you have Butterbeer?' she questioned. 'Not illegally, I hope.'

'Lily!' he faked hurt. 'How could you say something like that?'

He walked over to a set of oak dressers. He pulled open one drawer and unzipped something within it. When he turned around, he had two bottles of Butterbeer in hand. Lily gasped. He handed her one, and sat back on the bed.

'Those Muggle Coolies really come in handy,' he said smartly.

'Coolies?' Lily asked, confused.

'Yeah, you know, those things that they use to keep things cold? Coolies. I read about them in Remus' Muggle Studies book.'

'Oh, you mean, Coolers,' she replied, with a giggle.

'Oh,' he mumbled. 'Close enough.'

'Okay,' she went on, 'So we're going to try and get the… Weird Sisters? Are you sure you can get them?'

'Yes, Lily Dear, if you will remember, I have 'connections'.' He winked at her. She threw a pillow at him. He hadn't been paying attention, and he turned only to get the pillow right in his face, he was taken by surprise and fell backwards off the bed. He landed on the floor with a THUMP.

'Oh no! James, I'm sorry, I-' but as soon as she was close enough to the edge, she was pulled off the bed by James.

'Oh really? You're sorry?' And he started tickling her like crazy. 'What was that? I can't hear you.' Lily was screaming with laughter, she couldn't get any of her words out.

She was doubled over in James' lap, trying desperately to evade his hands. She even tried to get back on the bed, but upon realizing that it would mean that she would have to remove her arms from her stomach, leaving all that area for James to tickle, she decided she just couldn't risk it.

'Ok!' gasp, 'I-' giggle, 'I'm sor-' scream.

'What was that?' he questioned, as he continued to tickle her.

'I'M SORRY!' and then he stopped.

'That's what I thought,' and he reached up to pull her face to his.

Lily turned so that she was facing him, eagerly awaiting the feeling of his lips on hers. She wrapped her legs around his middle, and her arms around her neck. James had her around the waist.

James gazed into her beautiful green eyes, and kissed her gently on the lips. James' tongue slid along her bottom lip, her lips separated, and James began to explore her mouth with his tongue. It was just as he remembered it. He lifted his lips from hers, only to place sweet kisses along her jaw line.

Lily ran her fingers through James' unruly hair. James lifted his lips to Lily's again, she moaned into his mouth. Lily lifted her hands under his shirt and she began to trace the muscles of his stomach.

James rolled them over, and placed his knees and hands on either side of Lily, so that he was hovering just above her.

He gazed down at her, as she gazed up at him. He thought she looked like a goddess. She thought he looked like a god.

'I love you,' he whispered. And he brought his face back down to hers. He began to kiss along her jaw line again, this time, though, he didn't stop, he continued down to her neck. She pulled him down on top of her.

Lily was sure she'd have a hickey later, but she could really care less. She returned her hands to his hair. When she decided she'd had enough of that, she lifted his face from her neck, and looked into his eyes.

'I love you,' she whispered, she flipped them over, so that she was on top. She brought her face to his, and kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth.

'Eh-Hem.'

**A/N: Ok, I need to ask you all. Answer by review, but do you think I should add a Lemon? I would obviously, have to change the rating. But seriously, let me know, I won't put one in, if not everyone wants one. I can have it separately and send it to those who want to read it or something. But, right now, Do you want a Lemon? **

**Thanks! Love, Lady Carmilla. **


	9. Chapter Nine

**A/N: Ok, sorry about the wait, it wasn't really too bad I guess, but I had really expected to get this up sooner. Right now, I realize this might seem like it's going no where, or has no plot. But believe me, it does. I just needed to get the chapters leading up to it, which are probably the most boring, out of the way. I think the plot might really pick up in the next chapter. We'll see. Ok, so Enjoy. & Review, please. :)**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. I think it is obvious what I own, and what I don't. You know what belongs to JK. Everything else is mine. :)

**-Chapter Nine-**

Lily jumped up in an instant. Without even looking up to see who had entered, she began to straighten her clothes; she ran her fingers through her slightly tangled hair and looked up. A tiny gasp left her raw pink lips when she saw who had entered.

'Audrey?' James questioned. She looked highly uncomfortable.

'Uh, hey guys,' she mumbled. 'Sorry, it's just the guys sent me up here to look for you, James… they've been looking all over for you.'

James couldn't imagine why. He looked at the clock, it was nearly eleven. He just happened to glance out the window as her was turning back to look at Audrey.

His eyes went wide, and they could have sworn they heard him say, 'Shit!' under his breath. He then turned to Lily.

'Sorry Lils, but I have to go.' He quickly kissed her on the cheek. 'Don't worry about cleaning up or anything, I can do that later. But really, I gotta run.'

He hurried over to his trunk and flung it open. He pulled out a weathered looking piece of parchment, and what Lily knew was the invisibility cloak. He then ran to his dresser, and pulled out an old mirror. He looked into it and said, 'Sirius?' he waited a moment, and then said, 'I'm on my way.' And with that, he ran out the door, leaving the girls alone in a rather awkward silence.

Lily walked over to the bed and picked up the empty Butterbeer bottles. Lily, being something of a 'Neat Freak', couldn't just leave his room looking like it did. She set the bottles on the bedside table, she picked up the pillow that she had thrown at him, and tossed it back on the bed.

'Since they're gonna be gone all night, do you wanna hang out? Unless, you know, you wanna go to sleep or something,' Audrey asked. Lily looked up into her chocolate brown eyes.

'Uh, sure. If you want to go in my room, I'll be there in a minute.' Audrey walked over to the door to the bathroom that connected the Head Dorms and went through. Lily had no idea what she had been talking about. Why were they going to be gone all night? She wondered. She really didn't want Audrey to know that she didn't know, though, so she decided to pretend.

She walked around to the other side of James' bed to pick up the papers that they had been writing on, she set them in a stack on his desk. She then walked over to the dresser where James had used that mirror. She picked it up, and studied it. It looked like any other mirror, but she was certain James had talked to it. She set down, swearing to ask him about it, and then she went to join Audrey in her room.

When she walked in, she found that Audrey had taken to looking at her extensive book collection.

'You really like reading, don't you?' she asked her, with a grin.

'Yes,' said Lily, as she walked to put her bag on her couch. Audrey watched her as she went.

'I think it's amazing that they taught themselves to do such a complex thing. I mean they were only _fifth years_ when they started,' she said, 'And it's really nice, too; to do something like that for Remus. They are surprising people.' She looked at Lily, who nodded, not having any idea what she was talking about.

'You don't know, do you?' she said abruptly.

'I beg your pardon,' said Lily, faking indignation.

'You don't know what they went to do. They never told you, did they?' Lily didn't need to answer, Audrey could tell by the look in her sad green eyes. 'So, this is a nice room,' she said, trying to change the subject. 'Very big.'

Lily just nodded. Audrey returned to looking at her books. 'Alice in Wonder Land? I've never heard of these.'

'That shelf is all Muggle books,' she said looking at the shelf that she had taken the book from. 'Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favourites, since I was little.'

'Oh, can I borrow it?' she asked, 'I'd like to read it, if you don't mind.'

'Sure, go ahead,' Lily replied she looked over at the clock. 11:30. 'It's getting late, though, so…'

'Oh right,' said Audrey, getting the hint. 'I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye.'

'Bye.' And with that Audrey left.

Once Lily was sure that she was gone, she went over to sit on the window seat. She looked out at the bright full moon. She had so many questions spinning in her head.

What had Audrey been talking about? What had James' told Audrey that he hadn't told her? What did it have to do with Remus? Didn't James trust her? Was Audrey just making that up, to make her jealous? But why would she want to do that?

Every question spawned another. Lily sat there like that, on the window seat, until she fell asleep.

Lily slept until about 4AM. She sat up, and realized that she wasn't in her bed. She quickly reminded herself not to fall asleep on the window seat again, as it wasn't very comfortable.

She was on her way to her warm, fluffy bed, when she noticed a skinny stream of light on the soft carpet. She looked up and saw that the door to the bathroom that the Head Students shared was ajar. She walked over to it, and pushed it open. There was no one inside, she turned off the light and she was about to leave, when she instead decided to push open the door on the other side, leading to James' room.

When she entered, she noticed that the invisibility cloak was thrown on the floor near the bed, as well as the parchment she had seen James take out of his trunk earlier. She walked over to pick it up, but it was blank. She set it on the bed side table, and looked at James' sleeping form. She just couldn't resist the urge to crawl in with him.

'Lily..?' he asked sleepily. 'Is that you?' He was squinting up at her. He grinned, and moved to the other side of the bed. He lifted up the covers, inviting her inside. She gladly accepted.

It felt nice to be inside the warm covers, next to him. She snuggled up close to him; he wrapped an arm around her, holding her close, and kissed her on the forehead.

----------X----------

Lily could feel the warmth and brightness of the sun on her face. She opened her eyes and saw the light was from the window, the curtains hadn't been closed all the way shut, in the middle. She yawned and rolled over. She jumped slightly when she realized that there was someone next to her. She looked up into the face of one, James Potter. He smiled down at her, his hazel eyes dancing.

'Well good morning,' he said brightly.

'Morning,' she said, with another yawn. She rubbed her eyes, and stretched her limbs.

'Sleep well?' he wondered. She nodded. He grinned. 'You're not much of a morning person, are you?'

She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. She then jumped up, out of the bed.

'I'm very much a morning person,' she said cheerfully, as she walked over to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

After they were both ready, they headed down to the Great Hall to get some breakfast. Upon entering the hall, they noticed that there weren't too many students around. Lily figured most of them slept in on Sundays.

They sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table and began to eat.

'James?'

'Yes?'

'Where did you go last night?' It had been bothering her all morning.

'Oh, that. Well, I don't know if I can tell you,' he said quietly.

'Why not?' she demanded. 'Don't you trust me?'

'It's not that I don't trust you,' he assured her. 'It's just that I don't know if the guys would be ok with me telling you.'

'Audrey knows.' She said, coldly. 'Why does she know, and I don't?' James was startled at this.

'Sirius must have told her…' he said, more to himself.

'Told her what?' she asked suspiciously, 'James, please tell me.'

He sighed in defeat. He knew he couldn't lie to her. He had wanted to tell her sooner. But the full moon had snuck up on him. He looked around, to make sure that no one was close enough to hear them. He leaned real close to her and began to tell her their story.

A story of friendship, daring, and trust. A story that was shared with few. A story of such loyalty, and risk. It was the story, of a werewolf, and his three best friends.

**A/N: Wow, so finally one that didn't end in a cliffhanger! Happy? Please review! I really appreciate it. Let me know what you think, & I will love you forever. First reviewer gets chapter dedication! **

**-Love, Lady Carmilla.**


	10. Chapter Ten

**AN: Ok, so another chapter. I tried to get it up fast, but it ended up taking nearly a month. Sorry. There's not a lot of Lily/James in this one. I decided to switch it up a little bit; most of it is Audrey, going through her day. It's not as boring as it may sound, though. wink, wink Enjoy.**

**I dedicate this chapter to:** Professor Prongs.

**-Chapter Ten-**

The Annual Christmas Ball was fast approaching. It was set for Christmas Eve night. Today was the last day of classes before Christmas break. Hardly anyone was paying attention. But then again, no one ever paid attention to Professor Binns anyways. Besides Lily, that is.

'Lily.' Poke.

'…And in 1653…'

'Lily.' Poke.

'..Then again, in1693…'

'Lily.' Poke.

'….And also in 1703…'

'Lil-'

'WHAT?' Lily spun around to see who was poking her. It was James, of course.

'Hi, Lily,' he said with a grin. Lily, on the other hand, frowned.

'Hello, James,' she said with annoyance obvious in her voice. 'What do you want?'

'Just wanted to say hi,' he said, mischievously. Lily glared at him, and turned back to listen to Professor Binns.

After class, James waited in the corridor for Lily. When she came out, he waited until she was ahead of him, and grabbed her from behind. Lily was about to scream when James spun her around.

'Hello, Lily.'

She couldn't help but laugh. He was so strange, but that was one of the things she loved about him. He wasn't like anyone else she knew. Except, maybe Sirius.

'Hello, James.' He grinned and kissed her as someone behind them yelled for them to get a room.

'I was just wondering Lily, do you have a date to the dance?' He asked, taking Lily by surprise.

'Of course I do,' she said.

'Who?' Lily laughed at the look on his face.

'You,' she said before kissing him.

'Who said I wanted to go with you? Maybe I was just asking to know,' he said, matter-of-factly. 'Maybe I already have a date.'

Lily looked skeptical; she leaned over and kissed him again. This kiss deeper then the last. She pulled away and looked up at his face, 'That's what I thought.'

James chuckled and put his arm around her, and they continued down to the Great Hall for lunch.

----------X----------

Audrey had been thinking about the Christmas Ball all day. She didn't currently have a date. Of course, she had been asked by many, rather desirable, boys, but for a reason she wasn't completely sure of, she had turned down every last one.

She was sitting next to Lily in History of Magic when she heard something; she turned to see James poking Lily. The sight made her laugh. He was so immature, and yet he was so mature at the same time. It seemed highly unnatural.

She watched as Lily whipped around to confront him, her auburn hair nearly getting Audrey in the eye.

'WHAT?' she spat. Audrey turned to look at Professor Binns and was surprised to see that he had not heard her, as he continued to drone on about Merlin knows what.

'Hi Lily,' James said, as Audrey turned back to watch. He was grinning, but then again when wasn't he?

'Hello, James,' Lily sounds annoyed. 'What do you want?'

'Just wanted to say hi,' he said, mischief filling his voice. Lily only glared at him and then turned back to listen to whatever the professor was talking about.

Audrey looked briefly at James, he was leaning back in his chair, with his hands behind his head, a smiled plastered on his face. She glanced at Lily and saw that, despite the fact that she had been acting annoyed, she had a smile on her face as well, a smile that probably didn't have to do with the lesson.

Audrey felt a sudden pang of jealousy. She would never admit it, but that was what she wanted more than anything. She wanted a boyfriend that actually loved her for her. Someone that would do things that anyone else would see as annoying, but that she would see as cute, or funny.

Just as she thought this, a piece of folded up paper floated down onto her book. She looked at it cautiously, and upon deciding it was ok, she opened it. It was from Sirius.

Aren't they just disgusting? He wrote. Audrey laughed lightly, and then dipped her quill to reply.

You read my mind. Which wasn't really true, but she wasn't going to tell him that. With a flick of her wand she sent it behind her to Sirius. She heard him open it. It was quiet for a moment, and then she heard the scraping of his quill on the paper. Soon enough, it was on her book again.

So... This is boring. You wanna get out of here? Audrey reread his response a few times before looking at her watch; normally she would have said yes. She loved skipping classes, it gave her such a rush, but seeing as there were only five minutes left, she thought that would be pointless.

There are only five minutes left of class, you loser. Let's skip after lunch. And she passed it back to Sirius.

Judging by the time it took for him to reply, Audrey guessed that she'd surprised him. Eventually, though, he sent it back to her and it said, Sounds good to me. Let's talk more at lunch.

Audrey figured that meant she didn't have to reply. She stuffed the note into her bag and started to get her things together so she'd be ready to leave class fast. But when the bell rang, she had to wait for Lily to get her stuff together and leave, as she was trapped between her and the wall.

Once she'd finally made it into the hall, she tried to hurry down to the Great Hall, but was startled when someone hurried passed and grabbed Lily. James turned her around, and they stopped right in the middle of the hallway and to her dismay, they started kissing.

She felt someone next to her, and looked up at Sirius as he yelled, 'Get room!' at the couple. Audrey chuckled and they began to walk down to the Great Hall together.

'So what class do you have next?' Audrey asked Sirius before stuffing some food in her mouth. Sirius looked appalled at the amount of food she had just shoved inside of her seemingly small mouth.

'Uh… Divination,' he said, clearly amazed.

'Oh, I've got Muggle Studies,' she informed him, through a mouthful of potatoes.

She wondered what they would do. She'd never skipped with anyone since she'd arrived at Hogwarts, and she usually spent the time in her dorm, sleeping or doing other random things.

'So, what're we gonna do?' she asked, curiously. Sirius grinned, deeply.

'Come on,' he said, grabbing her arm. 'We have to go get some things first.'

'And where exactly are we going to get these things?' she asked, cautiously, taking her arm back.

'Just Gryffindor Tower,' he replied. Audrey sighed and they head up toward Gryffindor Tower.

By the time they made it up there, the Common Room was nearly empty. Only the students who had their free period now were left. Thinking fast Sirius ushered Audrey up to his dorm with him, hoping no one would notice, although Audrey was a little apprehensive herself.

Once inside his dorm, Sirius walked over to what Audrey assumed was his bedside table, and pulled it open. From inside it, he pulled a shabby looking piece of blank parchment, and then went to his trunk. He dug around inside it for a moment before swearing aloud.

'Shit, James must have it,' he cursed. He pulled out the parchment and mumbled something under his breath. 'I solemnly swear that I am up to know good.'

Audrey watched with amazement as the blank piece of parchment became, not so blank. She hurried over to Sirius who was scanning the page. He must have sensed her gazed, since he lifted his head.

'What is that?' Audrey asked.

'Marauder's Map,' he said. 'Shows the entire castle and everyone in it.'

Audrey saw that this was indeed true, as she quickly scanned the map and found a dot labeled, 'Audrey Santos' right next to a dot labeled 'Sirius Black.' She was, to say the least, amazed.

Sirius set it down on the bed and pulled something else out of his trunk. It appeared to be a mirror. Come to think of it, it appeared to be the mirror that James had had the other day. He lifted it close to his face and said, 'Prongs?'

Audrey looked at him uncertainly, what was he doing? She was thinking of things that it could possibly be when a voice startled her from her thoughts.

'Padfoot? Where are you?' The voice sounded familiar enough, and when she leaned forward to look at the mirror, she saw James' face peering back at her. She gasped. 'Audrey?'

Now everyone was confused.

'We're skipping,' Sirius said, 'but I don't have the cloak, is it in your trunk?'

'Yeah,' James whispered. 'The password's still the same.'

'Ok, thanks,' Sirius said.

'Later,' James replied, with a wink.

What did he think they were going to do? Audrey wondered. And realizing she didn't even know what they were going to do, she started to worry. But before she had a chance to voice her thoughts, she was being pulled out of the dormitory.

'Come on,' Sirius said, rather impatiently. 'We've got to go to the Head Dorms.'

They slipped stealthily out of the Common Room and ran to the Head Dorms. Sirius supplied the password and they were into the Heads' Common Room. Sirius then went to the oak door with the plaque that read, 'Head Boy' and he pushed open the door and ran in.

Audrey waited in the Common Room, and in no time he was back with the silvery cloak that Audrey recognized as the Invisibility Cloak. Sirius looked up at her as he reentered the room.

'What say you, we go into Hogsmede?' he asked, mischievously.

**AN: Another chapter down! WOOO. Ok, so I liked this one. How 'bout Audrey and Sirius, eh? And I'm sorry, because I'm really trying to make them longer. I had really expected this one to be long, but this just seemed a right place to end. So, on to the dramatics. PLEASE REVIEW! I would love you forever! AND first reviewer gets Chapter Dedication! What's better than that? Eternal love and dedication. **

**-Lady Carmilla.**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: **I don't own HP. We all know what belongs to JK in this story; I claim everything else. :)

**I dedicate this chapter to:** SiriusPotterFan1

**-Chapter Eleven-**

James woke the next morning to the sounds of Lily getting ready. He loved the fact that he never had to worry about setting an alarm for himself, because Lily made enough noise to wake up the entire castle when she got ready; which had surprised him greatly the first morning of their Headship.

He rolled over and checked the clock. 7:15; she was right on time. He began to get up when a thought struck him. _Yesterday_ was the last day of Term, which meant that today was Saturday. He stopped. What in the name of Merlin was Lily doing up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday?

Not being able to resist, James got up to find out what she was doing. He pushed cautiously through the door, into the bathroom; it was empty. He sighed and walked over to the door that led to the Head Girl's quarters. The door was ajar; he pushed it open slowly and called out, 'Lils?'

He heard something fall to the floor, followed closely by a small gasp. James pushed the door open completely to the sight of Lily picking something up, hastily.

'Oh,' she said, walking over to him. 'James, you scared me.'

Once she had reached him, she wrapped her slender arms around his neck, and standing on her tip toes she kissed him lightly.

'Good morning,' she said into his shoulder, as she hugged him.

'Morning,' he replied, kissing the top of her fiery red head. 'What are you doing up so early?' he asked, stifling a yawn.

'Oh, you know,' she said, 'just getting ready.'

'Err… for what?' he asked, plainly confused.

'Hogsmeade, silly.' Comprehension dawned on him.

'Oh, I forgot about that,' he mumbled, feeling, for some reason, slightly embarrassed. 'Erm... Wait, did--? '

'No, I'm going with the girls. I need to pick up some things before the dance. I need to pick up my dress,' she said, as if reading his mind.

'Oh, ok,' he said, kissing her once more. 'I should go talk to the guys, see what we're going to do.'

James then left to get his things together for a quick shower. By the time he was ready, it was quarter to 8, so he decided to go and get something to eat.

When he arrived in the Great Hall, he saw two things that surprised him greatly. First was the fact that Sirius was already there; James knew better than anyone that Sirius never got up this early on the weekend. Unless of course they had a prank planned, which they did not. The second, and more shocking of the two, was that Sirius was sitting, and seemingly conversing civilly, with Audrey. James walked over and sat next to Sirius.

'Top 'O the mornin' to ya, Prongs!' Sirius said, cheerfully.

'Morning,' James replied, and across from him, Audrey nodded. 'Why are you up so early, Mate?'

'The real question is, why, Mate, are _you _up so late?' Sirius replied dramatically. James just stared and shook his head.

'OI!' Sirius yelled, 'Look, its Merlin!'

James looked up instantly to see the familiar white feathers of his snowy white owl. Merlin landed on James' plate, which he had been about to load with food, and stuck out his leg. As James relieved the owl of its burden, it nibbled affectionately on his fingers then proceeded to fly off to the owlery. James looked down at the familiar looping writing.

'It's from Mum,' he said, opening it.

_James,_

_I was wondering what you want to do for Christmas break. You mentioned that you have to stay for the ball, but I thought maybe you'd want to come home after it, and be here for Christmas and the New Year. You're welcome to bring Lily; I'd love to meet her. Tell Sirius he's welcome to bring someone, if he'd like. I daresay Remus will be going home to visit with his mother, but if not, make sure he knows he welcome, Dear. Hope to hear from you soon!_

_All of my love,_

_Mum._

James knew she just didn't want to be alone. But that was alright, because James didn't want her to be alone, especially not for the holidays. Since his dad had been killed, she had been living alone in their great big house; her only company being their house elf, Dot.

Sirius took the letter and read it through himself. When he finished, he set it down and sighed. James knew he was thinking the same as him. James' parents had taken Sirius in when he'd run away from his own home. He'd become something of a second son to them, and a much desired brother to James. Sirius had honestly been more upset about Mr. Potter's death then his own father's.

'So are we gonna go?' Sirius asked.

'Of course we are!' he said incredulously. 'We'll just have to see if there's a train out to London that day…'

'That'd take too long, we'd miss Christmas morning!' It was his turn to sound incredulous. 'What if we Floo there? We could ask Dumbly-dore! How could he possibly deny us, his favourite students?'

The previously silent Audrey snorted. Sirius turned to look at her.

'What?'

'Oh, nothing.'

'Are you going to ask _the Flower_?' he plowed on, as though not interrupted. 'WAIT! Did she pass her apparation test? We could APPARATE there!'

James looked at the excitement that flooded Sirius' face. He remembered the previous summer with a chuckle. Upon passing his apparation test, Sirius had proceeded to apparate every few feet. He hardly walked at all that summer. James grinned.

'Why yes, Padfoot, she did,' he said.

'Yeah, I figured she had,' Sirius said. 'She is _Lily_, after all.'

'I should go find her, so I can write back,' he said, getting up from the table.

James wondered where she might be. He didn't think she'd be in Hogsmeade yet, she hadn't had breakfast. At the thought of breakfast, his stomach rumbled, he hadn't eaten anything in his frenzy to answer his mum. Then, he suddenly remembered Lily had said that she was going with her friends into Hogsmeade, so he started to make his way up to Gryffindor Tower. He didn't get very far though, when he heard his name.

'James!'

He turned quickly to see a flushed Lily come sauntering up to him, panting ever so slightly.

'You have hearing problems,' she informed him, with a huff. 'I've been after you since you left the Great Hall. Sirius said you were looking for me.'

'Yeah, I was. My mum wrote to me, asking for me to come home for Christmas-'

'But the ball!' she interrupted.

'I know, we wouldn't leave until after the ball-'

'We?' she asked, cutting in again.

'Me and Sirius. He has to be there for Christmas morning, or else he'd probably die of a heart attack, Christmas is his all-time favourite holiday, you see. Oh and, well, she also asked if you wanted to come, too,' he said, quickly, looking up at her.

'Oh,' she said, clearly taken by surprise. 'Well, I don't want to intrude. You know…'

'Don't be silly. Do you need to write your parents or…?' he trailed off at the look on her face, and then remembered what she had told him about her family.

'No. They don't need to know. It's not like they'll notice anyways. They've got _Petunia_ to worry about,' she spat resentfully. 'I'm sure that whale of a boyfriend she's got will be there, so there's really no need.'

The thought that Lily was miserable when she went home angered and saddened him. The thought that her sister and her boyfriend were rude to her made him want to set them right. James swore that should he ever meet them, he _would _set them right. He hugged her protectively.

'Well… are you doing anything right now?'

'No, why?'

'I reckon we should ask Dumbledore if we can leave. Who knows if we'd even be allowed out then?'

Lily smirked at that. 'Like that's ever stopped you before,' she said, lightening the mood considerably.

'Come on, let's go get some breakfast, I'm starving.' And with that, they walked off towards the Great Hall, hand in hand.

**AN: AGH, I know. It is... Short. I AM SO SORRY. But this is the only way I could end it without starting something else. I PROMISE that the next chapter will be the dance, finally, and some other things. They may be going to Potter Mansion next chapter, too, but I'm not completely sure, so please, don't hold me to it. **

**Let it be known, I have the climax chapter already done; I'm just waiting for the opportune moment to throw it in there. Ok, you know the drill, the phrase is 'Read _and_ Review' for a reason. And, as my newly founded 'thing', first reviewer gets the next chapter dedicated to them. You lucky dog. :)**

**-Lady Carmilla**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you don't recognize.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** Who you calling girly!

Thanks so much.

**-Chapter Twelve-**

The 24th of December was upon them in no time. Girls all over the castle woke in the early hours of the morning, bubbling with excitement. A lot of them planning their entire day out carefully.

The gentlemen of Hogwarts, however, were doing nothing of the sort. They still woke up late, and could be found in their Common Rooms playing Exploding Snap, or Chess. Some of them not even registering that the Ball was later that night.

Lily had not seen James all day. She had been making final arrangements for the dance, later that night. It was set for 8 o'clock, but they would have to wait until after dinner before they could set up anything. The more Lily thought about it, the more she realized that she hadn't, in fact, seen any of the Marauders since breakfast. Which was, to say the least, suspicious.

'E-Excuse me?' said a timid voice from behind Lily, that made her jump slightly. She realized she'd become so lost in her thoughts, that she had just stopped, and was standing idle in the middle of the 7th floor corridor.

'Oh, sorry,' she said turning to see a small blonde haired boy, who she recognized as a first year. 'I wasn't—'

'Oh, no. It's just I have a n-note here from P-Professor Dumbledore for J-James P-Potter. But I can't f-find him. I thought maybe you would know w-where I could find him?'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure where he is, either,' she said kindly. The boy looked crestfallen. 'But I can er- give it to him when I see him?'

'Thanks!' said the boy, handing her the note, brightening considerably.

As soon as the boy had walked the length of the corridor and turned out of sight, she started in the opposite direction, opening the note as she went. It was identical to the one she herself had received earlier. Now she just had the task of finding the boy before 12, so that they could make it to this meeting.

She thought for a moment then continued up the corridor to the Gryffindor Common room in hopes of finding the Head Boy in his old dorm. She supplied the password, and continued into the warmth of the Common Room, glanced around, not seeing him, or his friends, and headed for the stairs.

No one was in the Marauders' dorm, but on one of the bed-side tables, there laid a mirror. It was a mirror that, as James had explained, belonged to a set, and let you talk to the owner of its match. 'Like talkie walkies,' James had said.

She picked it up and said, 'Er- James?' into it. She waited a moment and then saw James' flushed face.

'Lily? What're you doing with this?'

'I was looking for you. We have to meet Dumbledore at 12 o'clock.'

'Oh, what for?'

'He didn't say. Where are you?'

'Hogsmeade,' he said, with a grin. Lily shook her head.

'Well, just make sure you're back here before then. Ok?'

'Yes mom,' she heard Sirius say in the background.

'Ok, Lils,' he said, ignoring his friend. 'See you then.'

And he was gone. Lily sighed, looking down at the bed she was sitting on. It didn't have a trunk at the end of it; she was baffled until she realized that this must have been James' bed. She set the mirror back on the table as she laid down, remembering her bed in her old dorm. She was suddenly rather cold, so she continued to wrap herself in warm the blankets. She was soon overtaken with sleepiness, falling into a deep and peaceful slumber. It seemed to last only minutes, though, as she was awoken by distinct male voices.

'… Hey Prongs!' on shouted, 'Look who I've found in your bed. Does that mean that all of your wildest dreams have now come true?'

The voice sounded full of laughter. Lily couldn't understand what could be so funny.

'Shut up, Padfoot,' said another voice.

'C'mon Moony. We're obviously not wanted here,' said the first voice, she couldn't tell if he was really hurt, or just pretending. She then heard the door slam shut.

'Lily?'

Her green eyes snapped open; they instantly hurt from the light, bringing her back to reality.

'Err… James? Oh no! What time is it? Did we—'

'No, but we've only got five minutes.'

'Five minutes? _Five minutes_?'

'Err, yes.'

'I slept that long?' she continued.

'Comfy, isn't it?' he said with a grin.

'I—yeah, actually. Very.'

'Charmed it that way in my second year,' he said, smirking proudly. 'C'mon, we're going to be late.

By the time they had reached the Headmaster's office, it was 12:09, and the Headmaster in question was waiting for them outside his office.

'Ah, my Head Students; I realized only after I sent the notes, that I had not enclosed the password. But, we shall leave no thoughts to linger on the past, as we have some work to do. Follow me, if you will,' he said pleasantly, leading them up into his office.

He took his usual seat behind the beautiful oak wood desk, and Lily and James took their usual seats in the comfortably squashy chairs in front of the desk.

'Let's get down to business. Now, I have spoken with the Weird Sisters, and they have obligingly accepted our offer to play tonight,' he said, his blue eyes twinkling. 'The feast is set for 6:00, so that leaves us plenty of time to get everything ready, I dare say.' Lily and James nodded in agreement.

'But for the actual ball, what do you have planned for snacks?'

'Oh, well I've spoken with house elves already, Sir, and they know what they are to prepare. And for drinks they are making punch, but,' James grinned, 'we also got some Butterbeer, for those who'd prefer.'

'Ah, yes, that sounds delightful. I will refrain from asking how our Head Boy managed to get Butterbeer, but I don't think anyone else will,' he said, eyes still twinkling.

'Yes, and I'm sure he will gladly tell them all,' said Lily with a laugh. The professor chuckled.

'Yes, I'm sure. Now, I plan to let the feast run until about seven, so if you wouldn't mind staying after, so we can do what we need.'

'Of course,' said Lily.

'Splendid,' he said brightly. 'Oh, Mr. Potter, I almost forgot. Your mother contacted me, and explained your plans. You are welcome to come here later, to use the fire and Floo there.'

'Ok, thanks, Professor,' he said, and they left.

'Sirius will be crushed,' James said, as they walked down to the Great Hall for lunch.

'Why?' said a voice from behind them. They turned to see the curious face of one, Sirius Black. 'Dumbledore's letting us Floo home later.'

'Awww. Why didn't you tell him no? I wanted to apparate!' he wined.

'How could I tell him _no_? He's the _Headmaster_, for Merlin's sake. You don't just tell the Headmaster no!'

'I would of. If only I'd been there,' he said sadly.

'No you wouldn't have!'

'Yes I would have!'

'Nuh-Uh!'

'Yuh-Huh!'

'Nuh-Uh!'

And they bickered like children the rest of the way to the Great Hall.

----------X----------

Lily and James had agreed to meet down in their Common Room at 7:50, leaving them 20 minutes to get ready after they'd finished in the Great Hall. Lily went straight into the bathroom to take a quick shower, beating James to it.

'Damn!' he cursed when he saw that the shower was already taken. 'You win this time Evans.' And he left to go get everything else together, deciding just to take a shower last.

Lily giggled to herself as she heard James' frustration at her being in the shower already. She, regretfully, only took a short shower, knowing that she had a lot of other things to do.

So, at 7:50, James sat waiting in the Common Room for his date. It was unlike Lily to be late, but he knew she was putting a lot into her appearance, while he had just thrown on his clothes and hadn't even attempted to comb his unruly hair. A few minutes later, he heard the brass door knob leading to Lily's room turn, and click open. He turned to see the most beautiful sight.

Lily stepped over the threshold cautiously, looking up through her elegantly curled auburn hair. Her dress was a turquoise colour, and it clashed beautifully with her fiery hair. It had a deep V neckline with a fully beaded bodice; the beautiful material flowed into a multi-layered cascade of soft billowing ruffles, that flared out as she spun, give James the 360 view.

Words failed James as he stared at his gorgeous date. He felt like the luckiest man in the world. He walked slowly over to her, not taking his eyes off of hers.

'Lils…' Was all he managed to say before he bent low to kiss her fully on the mouth. 'You look… absolutely gorgeous.'

'You don't look too bad yourself,' she said, looking at his chosen attire. He wore a simple black tux, under which he had on a pretty blue shirt, which, consequently, matched Lily's dress very well. She smiled up at him, kissing him lightly. 'C'mon, we're the Head Students, we can't be late!'

James chuckled, and held out his arm, Lily gladly took it, and they set off towards the Great Hall.

When they got there, there weren't too many people already inside; many were standing in the Entrance Hall, presumably waiting for their own dates. When they entered, the first thing that they were confronted with was Sirius.

'Hello, Mate,' he said to James, then turned to Lily with a grin, 'Wow, you sure clean up nice.'

'Thanks,' she said, a little sarcastically as someone else walked up to them.

'Hi, guys,' said Audrey. She had chosen to sport a lovely black and white satin ball gown. It had black and white stripes on the bodice, which flowed into a full gathered floor length organza skirt. Her brown hair was tied back into messy bun that seemed to be made of curled and crimped hair, with small braids every once and a while. A little funky, but absolutely perfect.

'Hey there beautiful,' Sirius said, with a smirk.

'Hello, Sirius,' she replied coolly.

'Where's your date?'

'I don't have one.'

'Awww, no one wanted to go with you?' he said, mockingly.

'No, _I_ didn't want to go with _anyone_. What about you?'

'Same,' he answered ever so sadly.

'You look pretty,' she said turning to Lily, 'That dress is gorgeous.'

'Thanks,' she said, blushing slightly, 'I like yours, too. It has a nice… retro feel to it.'

'Yep, that's why I liked it,' she said with a smile.

For the first 20 or 30 minutes, mostly everyone just mingled, and made small talk. They had all heard that there would be a band, but no on had heard who, exactly. Some guessed the Hob Goblins, saying things like, Dumbledore had dated the lead singer's mother. Others hoped for the Gnarly Newts; the rumors varying greatly.

But finally, at about 8:30 the lights went low, and spotlights shined on a spot near where the Head Table usually resided. Then, suddenly, with a loud POP and a puff of coloured smoke, they heard music. As the smoke came to clear, they saw that the band was not the Hob Goblins, or the Gnarly Newts, it was the Weird Sisters. Many clapped madly, others looked on, disappointed, but overall, they were ready to have some fun.

'Hey, want some Butterbeer?' Sirius asked Audrey as he watched her watch Lily and James dance.

'What…? Oh, sure,' she said, lightly, as Sirius walked over to the table where the Butterbeer was being kept. He grabbed two and took them over to Audrey. He noticed as he went that a few people were watching him. There was a group made mostly of blondes, watching him make his way back to the table. He sighed, and handed Audrey her drink. Just then a slower song began.

'Hey, Audrey, do you… want to dance?' He asked, and for the first time in a long time, he was nervous.

'Um, sure,' she said, a little uncertainly.

He put out his hand, and as Audrey took it, he pulled her up, and out onto the makeshift dance floor. He pulled her to somewhere in the middle before he stopped. He looked at her and she put her arms around his neck, nearly making Sirius forget how to breathe. After a while of just standing there, he realized what an idiot he was and put his hands on her waist.

He looked up into her brown eyes and realized that she was laughing at him. He frowned. 'What's so funny?'

'Nervous much?' she asked with a chuckle. 'That's got to be a first, eh?'

He said nothing. He didn't want to ruin the moment with his smart-ass answers, so he kept them to himself. Audrey looked at him strangely. Then, very abruptly, she tightened her grip around him, and leaned in to touch her lips lightly to his. She barely pulled back, still feeling his breath on her lips.

Not being able to resist anymore, Sirius took his chance and kissed her again, but it was much deeper, and more meaningful than the first. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, they looked sad, which he couldn't quite understand. She then leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, as they continued to sway with the music, although, they didn't really hear the music. Nor did they see the many faces that were staring at them. All they saw was each other.

**AN: WOOO. Can you say longest chapter yet? I liked this one, it was fun. WOO SIRIUS AND AUDREY. Hmm.. so what's going to happen with them next? All I will say is that the last chapter had the most reviews of all 11, so, the more reviews I get, the faster I update. It defiantly motivates me; I do love writing this story. :)**

**Ok, so first reviewer gets chapter dedication, of course. And other than that? I don't know. Hope you liked it, because I sure did. See you next time! WOOOT.**

**Oh, and if anyone wants to see the dresses, just let me know, and I can give you the link! **

**-Lady Carmilla.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognize.

**I dedicate this chapter to:** Who you calling girly!

(Again! Come on you losers, can't anyone beat her? Lol)

**-Chapter Thirteen-**

'PRONGS! PRONGS! PRONGS!'

James felt something heavy land on the bed, and before he could even comprehend what was happening, he was launched onto the floor in a pile of sheets.

'What the hell!' he yelled, sleepily.

'Prongs, c'mon! It's Christmas, Mate. Your mum said I had to wait for you to open presents. SO COME ON!'

He looked up into the crazy face of his best mate. He really did love Christmas.

'Ok, ok, I'm coming,' he said, getting up off the floor. 'Wait… What are we doing here? I don't remember-'

He stopped himself at the appearance of a devilish glint in Sirius' eyes. Sirius looked at him and broke out into a mischievous smile.

'Well, Prongsie Dearest, I may have been standing over the punch bowl last night with a bottle of rum, and I may have accidentally spilt it all into it.'

'You spiked the punch? I was wondering why you were there so early,' He added thoughtfully. He then grinned, and Hi-Fived him merrily, as someone else walked in, looking more confused than ever. It was Lily.

'Where am-?' she stopped as she saw Sirius and James. 'How did we get here…?'

'We Flooed, my dear, Lily,' said Sirius happily. 'Happy Christmas, Flower!'

And with that he dashed madly from the room, and they heard him continue to run up the hall, down the stairs, and presumably, into the kitchen for food.

'He spiked the punch,' James said, walking over to Lily.

'That explains the head ache,' she said with a sigh, as James wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

'C'mon. I suspect Mum'll have a feast waiting.'

Too right he was. The smell of food was heavy as they stepped off the bottom step. They walked into the Dining Room and took their seats, waiting for her to bring the food over.

'Ah, Lily, we didn't have much of an introduction last night, it was late. Anyways, I'm James' mum, Radella. And you are even more beautiful then he said,' she said cheerily.

She herself, had beautiful auburn hair, and a soft rounded face, with hazel eyes; James' eyes. It was about the only thing that they shared appearance wise. Lily figured that he must have taken after his father.

'Oh, thanks,' she said, blushing slightly.

'Dot, honey, I said you don't have to do anything today, it's Christmas, I can take care of it.'

'Thank you Ma'am. You are too kind. Dot will be in her room if Mrs. Potter needs her,' said a small House-elf, with a squeaky voice, as she turned through a door on the opposite end of the kitchen.

'Here you go, eat up, there's plenty,' Mrs. Potter said happily as she sat in a chair at the head of the table, James and Sirius on either side of her.

'C'mon! Can't you people eat faster? There are presents to open!' Sirius said, frantically, a few minutes later.

'Ok, ok, we're done,' said James taking the plates off of the table, to the sink.

'YES!' he yelled triumphantly, and ran into the Den.

'I've got those, Sweetheart,' Mrs. Potter said, pulling out her wand, and charming the dishes to wash themselves. 'Let's go, I don't think he will be able to handle it much longer.'

They walked in to see Sirius on the floor near the tree, arranging piles of gifts.

'That's yours, Prongs,' he said, pointing to a pile near the fireplace. He turned to Lily. 'And this one's yours. Can we open them _now_?'

He turned to Mrs. Potter just as she nodded her head, and he began to rip the paper from the packages that lay at his feet unceremoniously.

James looked momentarily at Sirius before he shook his head, and turned to his girlfriend. He smiled, as she watched Sirius, in awe.

'I had no idea he was such a maniac. I mean, of course, I knew he was a little unhinged, but I had no idea it was this bad,' she said, making James chuckle.

'This isn't even the worst of it. Once, on my birthday, he tricked me into to leaving, so that he could open all my presents.'

'Seriously?' He shook his head.

'Siriusly.'

And with that, the burst out laughing.

Radella sat watching her son and his girlfriend sadly. They reminded her so much of her and her husband, Harold. She missed him so much. She knew it was selfish, but she didn't care.

She was nearly drawn to tears when James kissed Lily, on her beautiful mouth, as she remembered how Harold had kissed her on her own mouth. She got up, trying not to draw attention to herself, and mournfully retreated to her room.

James pulled back from kissing Lily, and saw his mum leave the room out of the corner of his eye. He felt bad, and reminded himself he'd have to spend some time with her later. He turned back to Lily, and saw that she was staring at him contently.

'What?'

'Oh, nothing,' she said, kissing him once more.

'C'mon, you haven't had the tour,' he said, a bit of his happiness coming back. He offered Lily his hand. She took it gratefully, and he pulled her up and off of the floor. He led her out of the warm den, and into the hallway. 'You've seen the kitchen, and the dining room, obviously…'

They went through the dining room, to another hallway at the front of the house. He pulled her down the eggplant coloured hallway to a beautiful mahogany door, he turned the brass doorknob and revealed a dark, and slightly dusty room that was filled to the ceiling with books. The walls were lined with wooden bookshelves, each laden with thick dusty books.

'The library,' he said, smiling at the look on her face, for she was in awe. He chuckled. 'I thought you'd like it.'

'Wow,' she said, running her hand along the shelf closest to her, reading the titles of the books. '_The Dark Arts Outsmarted_; _Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms; Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes; Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried..._ These are amazing.'

'Yeah, my dad loved reading, these are all his,' he said sadly.

'What happened to him?' Lily asked quietly.

'He was an Auror. Killed in the line of duty.'

'I'm so sorry, James,' she whispered, coming back over to him.

'C'mon, there's still a lot to see,' he said, taking her hand in his once more. He led her out of the Library, and back through the dining room. She noticed that they passed by a few doors which James did not name, but she did not press the matter, for fear of making him even sadder.

He opened a door, behind which were the stairs that they had come down earlier that day. He led her quietly up the stairs and to the right. They walked down a rich cream coloured hallway that had luscious oak flooring. They walked to the very last door, and he turned the doorknob slowly. As soon as it was opened, he peeked inside, and then pushed the door open for Lily to see.

It was no doubt the messiest room in the house. There were clothes on the floor, books and parchment were scattered about, the sheets hung off of the big four poster bed, sloppily. There were Quidditch posters hanging crookedly on the orange walls.

'Sirius' room,' he said with a grin, and he closed the door. He moved to the next door and opened it to reveal a much less messy room. 'Your room.'

It was indeed her room. She looked at the violently purple walls and recognized it at once. She looked to the bed against the far wall, the one she had slept in so peacefully the night before, and wished nothing more than to curl up in its warmth and sleep.

James continued on to the last room on the right of the stairs; he pushed open this door without hesitation. Lily recognized the gold and scarlet walls at once. The sheets on this four poster were also hanging off; they too were gold and scarlet.

'Talk about House spirit,' Lily said just as James announced that this was his room. James heard this, and turned to stick his tongue out at her childishly. 'Oh yeah, real mat-'

She began, but cut herself off when he moved to his dresser, and pulled something small out. Lily tensed unwillingly.

'Merry Christmas, Lils,' he said, as he turned and passed her a package wrapped in green paper. She looked at the small box questioningly, she calmed slightly.

Finally, not being able to stand it, she ripped the paper off to reveal a small velvet box. She popped it open, and gasped, as she pulled out a beautiful necklace. There was a small heart-shaped emerald hanging delicately from a slender silver chain.

'Oh James, I… I don't know what to say.'

'Do you like it?' he asked, apprehensively.

'Yes, of course, it's gorgeous… But it's too much, I only got you a-'

'Don't worry,' he said, taking the necklace from her small hands and placing it around her neck. She turned to the mirror that stood next to the dresser. She fingered it appraisingly. She looked up to see James watching her closely. He looked nervous, which was very unlike him.

She turned to him, catching her lips on his. She let him into her mouth easily, as a previously unrecognized hunger for him rose up inside her. His hands were at her waist, pulling her into him tightly, while her arms rested around his neck, pulling him down closer to her. James started to slowly walk backwards, pulling Lily along with him, still attached at the lips.

They parted only momentarily, when it became necessary to intake oxygen, and then resumed quickly thereafter, tasting each other ravenously. James laid Lily down on the bed tenderly, and laid himself on top of her, trying not to squish her. Lily moved to run her hands through his already messy black hair as James moved to her neck.

He fingered the hem of her shirt before deciding to delve farther. He slid his hand under Lily's shirt, and she shivered with pleasure. He was moving his hand slowly up farther, as someone yelled from down the hallway.

'Hey! Prongs!' he yelled, and they heard the doorknob turn slightly. 'How come you didn't open your presents? Can I open them?'

James was up and at the door in a flash. Leaving Lily to try and comb through her thoroughly frazzled hair. She sat up on the bed, pulling her shirt down to cover her stomach, as James opened the door.

'What are you shouting about?'

'You didn't open your presents! And I know how mad you got last time, so I thought I'd ask,' he said, hopefully.

'Fine, you can-'

He wasn't even able to finish as Sirius jumped up in triumph and sprinted down the hallway, and down the stairs. It happened so fast, that they didn't even realize what'd happened, but they heard a cry of pain, followed closely by the sound of something large tumbling down the stairs.

Lily jumped up and off the bed and ran out into the hallway, closely followed by James. They were at the top of the stairs when they saw Sirius laying at the bottom, holding his leg, his face almost unidentifiable, as it was covered in yellow boils.

'What in the name of-' They heard Mrs. Potter gasp, as she looked at the scene in front of them. 'Sirius? What'd you do?'

'I think I b-broke my leg!' he said in agony.

'No dear, I meant to your face!'

Sirius looked up at her, in horror, as he felt his face. 'What? Does it look bad? What is it?'

'James, can you help him? We're going to have to take him to St. Mungo's.'

James ran down the stairs and lifted Sirius off the ground, and came to find out that the boils were not only ugly, but gave off a very foul odor.

'So, can you explain it to me again?' Asked Healer McKinnon as Sirius was lay in a bed near the window, boils and all, looking terrified.

'I was err… really excited, and I went to run down the stairs. I got half way before I tripped, and I think my wand must have slipped out of my pocket as I fell, and jinxed me. I must have broken my leg when I landed.'

'Uh-huh, right well, we should be able to clear this up easy,' said the Healer politely.

'And I will still look the same right? There won't be any permanent damage, will there?' Sirius asked frantically.

'No dear, I have a pretty good idea of what jinx this is, with the right potions, it should be cleared up nicely by tomorrow,' she said sympathetically. James sniggered, and Sirius threw him a dirty look.

'I'll have someone in shortly to give you your first potion,' she said with a kind smile.

As she left, James burst out laughing; Sirius tried to hit him, but couldn't reach. So Lily hit him instead.

'Shut up Prongs. At least one Marauder needs to be good looking, and since you obviously can't help us there…' he trailed off with a smirk. 'You need my good looks. You'd be nothing without me. Really Lily, I don't know what you see in him.'

Lily rolled her eyes, as Mrs. Potter walked back in looking slightly happier.

'Healer McKinnon explained everything in the hall,' she said, turning to Sirius. 'You'll have to stay overnight, dear.'

Sirius looked downtrodden. 'But, all my presents! I won't get to use them! I bet James is going to use them all when you go home, just so he can rub it in!'

James hit himself in the forehead, as if that was the most brilliant idea. 'You're absolutely right, though I would have never thought of that, if you hadn't mentioned it, thanks Padfoot!'

Sirius, who thought he was being serious (No pun intended, Lol) began to whine about how unfair it was that he had to stay in the hospital on Christmas night, and James got to go home and use his things. He continued to rant until he realized that no one was paying him any heed. And that they had started talking amongst themselves.

**AN: So, it was kind of stupid to end it here, but I didn't know what else to put in this chapter. This one was a bit longer, so I hope you're happy, I know I'm happy with it. **

**Also, do you think I should up the rating? I mean, I don't think I will put in a Lemon, but like in this chapter, with the snogging. Is it too mature to be T? Let me know, please, and thank you. :)**

**And of course, review, please. You know I love it, and that the first reviewer gets chapter dedication! So go on, get to it!**

**Love, Lady Carmilla.**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Disclaimer: **You know what's mine.

**I dedicate this lovely chapter to:** messyblackhair66

**-Chapter Fourteen-**

James and Lily decided to relieve Mrs. Potter of the duty of collecting Sirius from St. Mungo's the next morning. He was lying in his street clothes, on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

'Took you long enough,' he said, not taking his eyes off the ceiling. 'They told me you were coming, and I had to wait, otherwise I could have been home already… with my presents!'

'Yeah, yeah, let's go,' said James rolling his eyes.

'My face is alright!' he said, mood lightening considerably. 'No scars at all!'

'We noticed,' said Lily, rolling her eyes.

'Ah, James, she's finally seen the light. I am sorry in advance, because you know I can't say no to a beautiful lady,' he said, winking at Lily.

Lily sighed and turned to leave the room. As soon as she turned into the hallway, though, she ran smack into someone who had been turning into the room.

Lily reached out to grab anything, trying to prevent her fall, but rather mistakenly, she grabbed the person she ran into, causing them both to fall to the floor unceremoniously.

'I'm so sorry! Are you ok?' Lily said, helping the other girl up. 'Oh! Audrey?'

'Hi, uh, Lily,' she said looking rather embarrassed. 'What're you doing here?'

'Oh, well Sirius had an… accident,' she said motioning towards the door she'd just exited. 'We just came to pick him-'

'Audrey, Babe!' Sirius had just exited his room as well. 'It's only been a day, Love. Just can't get enough, eh?'

Sirius walked over, as she continued dusting herself off, and put his arm around her shoulders. Audrey went momentarily stiff under his arm, before wriggling out from under it.

'Hello, Sirius,' she said sighing. 'I… heard you had an accident?'

'Lily! You blabber mouth, you weren't supposed to tell anyone!' he whispered furiously, as Lily smirked evilly.

'Oops,' she said as Sirius glared.

'Uh, yes actually, I was doing something very top secret, and er... dangerous,' he said, turning back to Audrey. 'If I told you, you know I'd have to kill you,' he said dramatically.

'So Audrey, what brings you here?' James asked from beside Sirius.

'Oh, well, I'm interning here, actually,' she informed them.

'Oh! I forgot about that,' she said smacking James' arm. 'You were supposed to remind me!'

'Uh, well… I- You know you shouldn't ask _me_ to remember things!'

Sirius chuckled, 'Bickering like an old married couple. Let's give them some room, shall we? The tea room's on the next floor.'

'Oh, I don't think I sh-'

'Nonsense. I insist,' he said, pulling her slyly towards the stairs.

'So… Are you really interning or did you just come here to see me?' He asked with a smirk, as he watched Audrey sip her coffee. She nearly choked at the question.

'I'm interning!' she said, pointing at her name tag; Sirius looked slightly downtrodden. 'But, when I saw your name on the patient check in, I thought I'd come see if it was you.'

Sirius grinned, 'Naturally.'

Audrey smacked his shoulder playfully as someone walked in. He looked to be about their age, he was tall and muscular, with dark wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

'There you are, I've been looking all over for you,' he said showing off his white sparkling teeth.

'Oh, hi Ayden. What… Uh, why were you looking for me?' she asked, forcing a smile.

'You said you'd come out to lunch with me, remember?' He said flashing Audrey another smile, and ignoring Sirius completely.

'Oh, yeah, I'm sorry I forgot,' she said, remembering their earlier conversation. She turned to Sirius, apologetically. 'Sorry, I did say I'd have lunch with him.'

Sirius looked to Ayden, eying him wearily; he slipped his hand into his pocket. He then turned to Audrey, grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. She was taken by surprise, and came easily; he reached his hand up behind her head and pulled her lips to his, before kissing her meaningfully. He pulled back, and said huskily, 'I'll see you later.'

He turned and nodded curtly to Ayden before leaving the room, Audrey was left awestruck.

----------X----------

When Sirius finally found James and Lily, it was obvious that they had been snogging. They tried to hide it, but he knew better and didn't care.

'Where's… uh, where's Audrey?' Lily asked desperately.

'She's going out to lunch with some git,' he replied coolly.

'…And you're ok with that?' James asked, confused.

'No,' he said, before starting towards the exit. James and Lily hurried to catch up with him.

'But-,' Lily started, and James hushed her.

'What are we doing now then, mate?'

'Going home,' he said. 'And waiting.'

----------X----------

'So, you want to be a Healer?' Ayden asked Audrey as they sat in a booth at a dingy pub near St. Mungo's.

'Yes,' she said only half paying attention. She just couldn't get her mind off of Sirius, and how he had acted earlier.

'Oh, I don't. I only took the internship to get out of school,' he said, apparently proud at his cunning. 'School's a drag, don't you think?'

'Mhm,' she said, not hearing the question.

Ayden slowly slid his way around the table until he was next to Audrey, who hardly noticed. She was staring, but not seeing, at the bar when he lowered his head and began to kiss her neck. She jumped up in surprise and hit her knee hard on the table, she swore loudly.

'What the hell?' she looked at Ayden who looked utterly perplexed, which he probably couldn't even spell.

'What's wrong? I thought we came here to snog,' he said, apparently surprised that any girl didn't want to snog him.

Audrey looked at him a moment before slapping him, and getting up to leave. She walked quickly from the pub, and kept walking until she was a few blocks away. She stopped and sat on a bench, not even caring that it was partially frozen.

She sat there for a while, just watching her breath spiral from her mouth and dissolve to nothing, when it started to snow. She instinctively put her hands in her pocket to keep them warm. She was surprised to find a slip of paper tucked inside of one. She pulled it out and looked down at it questioningly.

When you've ditched the git, come and find me at James'.

She looked at the address scribbled on the paper and wondered where that was. She got up and turned around, looking at all the nearby street names. Of course, none of them were the one she wanted, so she began to walk.

It was a few minutes before she remembered how stupid she was, because she could apparate. She concentrated on the address and with a pop she was in front of a very large manor. She looked up at it, figured this must be it, and began to make her way up the front walk.

She rang the doorbell anxiously. After a moment, the door opened, and at first she thought no one was there, but heard a small cough, and looked down into the green orb eyes of a small house elf.

'How may Dot help you, Miss?' She asked squeakily.

'Uh, I'm looking for Sirius Black,' she replied nervously.

'Ah, yes, Sirius Black, he is expecting you, Miss. Let Dot take you,' she said, pushing the door open the rest of the way, welcoming Audrey inside. She led her into what she figured was the dinning room, where she saw James, Lily, Sirius, and who she assumed was James' mother, sitting down at the table.

'Hello Dear,' the women said, coming over to her. 'You must be Audrey?'

Audrey nodded. 'Ah well, I am James' mother, Radella. I'm happy that you could make it. Since Sirius missed Christmas dinner, we're doing it again,' she explained with a smile.

Audrey looked to Sirius, he was grinning from ear to ear. When he noticed her gaze, he motioned for her to come and sit by him. She smiled at Radella, and went to take the seat on Sirius' right.

She sat and looked up; Lily smiled at her from across the table, as Radella, with the help of Dot, began serving the food.

After dinner, James and Lily decided to go on a walk. So they bundled up and headed out into the chilly December night. Sirius and Audrey decided they liked being warm, and turned them down when they invited them so they were now in the den.

'So, that git you went out with earlier… You like him?' Sirius asked the question he'd been dying to know the answer to all day.

'Hell no,' she said, indignantly. 'He just asked if I wanted to get out of there for lunch, and I was bored and said yes.'

'Oh, I see,' he said, mood visibly lifting. Audrey chuckled.

'You were jealous,' she said matter-of-factly.

'I- Uh, no I wasn't,' he said unconvincingly.

'Yes, you were,' she said, moving slightly closer.

'I… I just thought he was stupid,' he said.

'He was stupid,' she replied getting even closer.

'You're not supposed to do this to me, you know,' he said.

'Do what?' she asked, stopping mid slide.

'Make me nervous,' he replied.

'Oh, well I'm sorry then,' she said, sarcastically. 'Let everyone stop making Sirius uncomfortable, because-'

She was cut off as Sirius covered her mouth with his. His hand moved instinctively to the small of her back, as he pulled her closer to him. His tongue slid into her mouth and explored it hungrily. After a few moments they pulled back, breathing hard.

He kissed her lightly on the lips once more, and lifted his arm around her shoulders. They stayed like that for a while, just sitting in the middle of the floor, in front of the toasty fire, leaning on each other.

'Do me a favor?' he asked her quietly.

'Mhm?' she mumbled, looking up into his stormy grey eyes.

'Don't go out with other guys anymore.'

**AN: Ok, my darlings. We should refrain from throwing things at me, because I know it's been a while, but I got it! School just started and I was rather busy with Tennis and homework and whatever, but tennis is over, and I'm hoping to start back up on a mad updating rampage. WOO. And I'm sorry, because I thought it was going to be longer, but this is all I got for now. I redid this chapter a few times, I just wasn't happy, but this I like. I hope you did too. :)**

**First reviewer gets chapter dedication, so come on, and review!**

**Love always, Lady Carmilla **


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Disclaimer: **Don't be an idiot, you know what's mine.

**I dedicate this chapter to my dear friend: **Narita S

**-Chapter Fifteen-**

Audrey had only been back to school a week, and she was getting glares from almost every girl she passed. She noticed the glares increase when she was with Sirius, too.

She knew this had to be a side affect of making the school's number one bachelor, not a bachelor anymore. She figured it was the idea that if they can't have him no one can. And it reminded her terribly of her first days at Hogwarts, when Lily and James had started dating.

'What's wrong?' Sirius asked, bringing her out of her daze

'Uh, nothing,' she said, avoiding his eyes. They were in the library, and so she said, 'I think I need to get a different book.'

She hurried from their table to a random section of books. She looked up to see a sign which read, Divination. She didn't even have divination, but she was so lost in her thoughts that it didn't even register.

She wondered blindly towards the potions section, but saw someone there, and turned quickly in the opposite direction. As she turned she landed herself against someone's chest. She looked up into his confused grey eyes.

'You're not looking for a book,' Sirius stated lamely.

'I know,' she whispered, looking at the ground.

'So what's wrong?'

'Can't you tell? She's just trying to get away from you,' someone sneered from behind them, Sirius turned so fast it seemed almost unreal.

'Bugger off, Snivellus; we were having a private conversation. Just because you don't have anyone to have one with doesn't mean you have to butt in on other people's.'

'Sirius, stop it,' Audrey said, quietly.

'Yes Sirius, _stop it_,' Snape said mockingly.

'You can shut the bloody hell up, too, you creep,' she said, even louder, to Snape.

'What's going on over here?' the voice of the old librarian came swiftly around the corner.

'Oh, nothing, we were just talking, it was nice to see you Snivellus, dear,' Audrey spat sarcastically as she pulled Sirius away from Snape. She did also manage to kick him swiftly in the shin before turning the corner towards their things.

They heard Snape swear, quietly, but apparently not quietly enough, since they next heard, 'What was that young man? You will not speak to me like that-'

They left before they could hear the rest.

'What did you do?' Sirius asked her with a smirk.

'Kicked him in the shin, and apparently harder than I thought, or he's just a big sissy…' Sirius looked at her, as if to say, _Is that even a question?_ 'Never mind, that was stupid.'

They both laughed, probably a little more than was necessary, but why not?

By the time they'd reached Gryffindor Tower it was time for dinner.

'You coming?' Sirius asked, halfway through the portrait hole.

'Uh, no, I'm not really hungry,' she told him.

'Ok,' he said, with a smile. 'Just don't get into too much trouble.'

She smiled back as he climbed all the way out and set off towards the Great Hall. She walked towards the fire, and sat down in one of the comfier armchairs. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs, staring into the fire.

Suddenly she was in a damp and dark room. She looked around and near the fire saw an armchair much like the one she had been sitting in, except she definitely wasn't in Gryffindor Tower now.

She walked slowly to the chair, which was facing the fire, but before she got there, a door to her left swung open and, of all people, Severus Snape strode in. He looked worried, and his face seemed to be marked by age.

He walked straight passed her, to the armchair, and began to speak, but no sound was emitted from his mouth. Audrey stared for a moment before moving forward, wanting to see who was sitting in the chair.

But as soon as she got close enough to see, Snape's head snapped towards her, and he raised his wand. Audrey gasped, and felt a sharp pain in her knee. She struggled for a moment before opening her eyes, and realizing she was lying on the ground in Gryffindor Tower.

'Audrey?' someone said behind her. 'Are you ok?'

She sat up and realized she must have hit her knee on the table, she also realized that there were tears in her eyes. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and tried to stand. She was about to topple over when a pair of strong hands grabbed her from behind.

She turned around to see James looking concerned.

'Are you ok?'

'I- I think so. I just had a bad dream. Hit my knee on the table, I'm fine,' she said, unconvincingly.

'Where's Sirius?'

'Dinner,' she informed him.

'Want me to go-'

'No, I told you I'm fine,' she insisted.

She pulled from his grip and began towards the stairs to the girl's dormitory, but nearly fell over again.

'Come on,' James said grabbing her again. He helped her to the stairs, 'I can't go up there, so are you ok to go by yourself?'

'I'm fine! It was just a dream. I have them all the bloody time! They're just stairs!' She yelled stomping up the stairs, James looked bewildered. But not for very long as Audrey came right back down, holding the railing for dear life.

'Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have stomped,' she said sheepishly as James chuckled. He walked her over to one of the couches, though she was finally regaining her balance, and could do it herself, James insisted.

'Now… What are you going to do?'

'Um… I don't know, why?'

'Well we don't need you to have a bad dream and almost die again. I can't always be here to save you, you know,' he said pompously. 'And I'm hungry.'

Audrey rolled her eyes. 'I'll be fine, you loser. Go eat.'

He smiled at her one last time before exiting the room. Audrey waited a minute or two then stood. She cursed herself for being so weak; those dreams didn't usually affect her that much.

Once she was sure she'd be fine, she strode to the portrait hole and headed towards the Headmaster's office.

----------X----------

When James entered the Great Hall, he immediately began to search for his best mate. He found him kind of accidentally. He was sitting with Lily, who you could always see from a mile away.

'Hey, Padfoot, your girl… Might need your help,' he said, unable to think of anything better to say.

'What?'

'I was on my way down here, and I found her freaking out on the ground in front of the fire in the common room. Said she had a bad dream. I think she hit her knee pretty hard. Could hardly stand at first,' James informed him. 'She's mad determined though, isn't she?'

'Yeah, that she is. So, wait. Is she ok?'

'She said she was, but she didn't really seem ok. Kind of shaken up, you know? Guess it was a really bad dream.'

Sirius stopped for a moment, 'Where is she now?'

'I left her in the Common Room. She was lying down on the couch,' he said, as Sirius got up, and turned towards the doors.

He didn't even have to go all the way to Gryffindor Tower to find Audrey though. He was walking down the corridor, when she ducked out from behind some massive stone gargoyles that Sirius knew led to Dumbledore's office.

'Hey, Audrey,' he called after her. She tensed and whipped around. Her long brown hair swirled madly. She calmed though, when she saw who it was.

'Hey.'

'What were you doing in there?' He asked, 'I thought I told you _not_ to get in trouble.'

Audrey smiled. 'Couldn't resist.'

Once Sirius reached her, he put his arm around her shoulder, kissed the top of her head, and began to walk towards Gryffindor Tower.

**AN: Ok dears. I am sorry. I truly am. It's been a month since my last update and this makes me sad because I was supposed to get one up sooner! So yes, I am sorry, but here it is. Focused more on Sirius/Audrey as you can see; good or bad? I know this is supposed to be a Lily/James story, but I just **love** Sirius, and I need him to get some story time too, lol. **

**AND guess what kiddies? I have a new story. WOOT. It's not up yet. I am super lazy when it comes to typing these things up. Xd I am almost done with chapter 2… And it is Sirius/OC. So hopefully I can get out my need for Sirius in that one, and focus more on Lily and James in this one. Unless we like both together…? Let me know.**

**And of course, first reviewer gets chapter dedication, _so get to it_. :)**

**Love always, Lady Carmilla.**


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter. Which, I think, is pretty obvious…

**I dedicate this chapter to:** Lilyluvr

**-Chapter Sixteen-**

Lily sat seething in the last row of seats, against the wall, in the potions dungeon. The look on her face was nothing short of murderous.

Sirius watched worriedly from beside her. He glanced cautiously between her and James, who sat a few rows ahead of them with a perky brunette.

She was watching them like a hawk. Sirius had tried to reason with her. He told her that she needn't worry about James. He would never hurt her. She just wouldn't listen.

"Lilly," he said, getting annoyed. "Can't you just let it go? The professor _made_ them partners. It's not like he'd choose her over _you_."

"That may be, but he doesn't have to flirt!" she said, rather shrilly, making Sirius groan.

"He's not flirting, Evans. That's just how he talks. And besides, that girl giggles at everything. He's probably just talking about the potion… That we haven't even started, Lily!"

"Oh, I forgot…" she said, beginning to make the potion they had been assigned. Although, only half-heartedly.

But Sirius was satisfied, as he knew that half-hearted for Lily, was normal for anyone else.

As soon as they were dismissed, Lily sped from the room, as not to face James. She had really thought about what Sirius had said, and she'd realized he'd been right. She knew James would never cheat on her, he loved her.

She couldn't stand to talk to him after she'd been so childish. She went to hide in the library, ashamed.

----------X----------

"Have you seen Lily?" James asked his best mate, as they were leaving the Great Hall after lunch. "I haven't seen her since potions…"

Sirius looked at his mate, not sure what to do. Since Lily and James had started dating, he and Lily had become much better friends. She was almost like the sister he'd never had. He decided though that he should probably tell James.

"The last time I saw her, she was pretty upset, so-"

"Upset? What happened?" His voice was clearly frantic.

"… I don't know if she.. Wants me to tell you," he said, rethinking his descision.

"Padfoot, what happened?" James' voice was dead serious.

"_What_ happened?"

They both spun around to see Lily looking at them curiously over the book she was reading.

"Lily…?"

"Um… James?" Lily was looking back and forth from James to Sirius, trying to read their expressions, but to no avail.

"Guess that's my cue…" Sirius' words went unnoticed though, as he left to find Audrey.

James moved closer to Lily, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Lily, what's happened?"

Lily looked perplexed.

"Nothing, why would you think something happened?" She asked, though she'd realized she thought she knew the answer.

"Well, Sirius said you were upset…" Lily groaned at this.

"Sirius also said that he didn't think you wanted me to know. Lily, why wouldn't you want me to know?"

"See how bad you're freaking out? It would be worse, and I'd like to save us all the trouble. I was stupid, I wasn't thinking, and I'd rather not tell you about it," she said, and she started to walk away, not sure if she even wanted him to follow.

"Lily? What happ- Oh, Lily, no, you didn't-"

The sound of his accusing voice made her stop dead in her tracks. She turned to look at him incredulously.

"Of course not!" She nearly spat. "How could you think that?"

And then, she remembered why they were having this discussion -which was nearly an argument- because she thought him unfaithful.

"Well, I mean, that's just how it sounded… So then what is it? It can't be worse than that."

But Lily had a feeling it was. She wanted to avoid it at all costs. She walked up to him, and hugged him tightly around the middle.

James looked down at her curiously. He had been taken by surprise. Lily felt a chuckle rumble through his body, as he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head.

When Lily looked up at him, he saw that there were tears streaming from her eyes.

He reached down and ran his calloused thumbs across her cheeks, cupping her face, wiping away her tears. He grinned, and kissed her lightly, she smiled sheepishly.

"I love you, Lils." She smiled a little more.

"I love you, too."

----------X----------

Audrey looked up at James. He was flying around the Quidditch Pitch on his broomstick. He really was an excellent flyer. And she had to admit he was, in her own words, 'Pretty Freakin Gorgeous'.

Audrey felt bad about what she had to do. She really had come to like James and his friends, especially Sirius. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. It was supposed to have been easier.

James started to circle and then came down and landed next to Audrey with a thud.

"What're you doing out here so late?" James questioned, his mind elsewhere.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said swiftly. This caught James' attention. He looked at her curiously.

"I come out here a lot, you know, to get my mind off things," he informed her. "I really love flying."

Audrey looked up to see a figure descending the great stone steps of Hogwarts.

"Mhm, I know what you mean. There is a thing," she smiled at him, "that I like to do to get my mind off of things, too."

She reached her hand behind his head and pulled him roughly to her, crashing her lips onto his.

James was so utterly shocked that he couldn't even move. As much as he wanted to, he just couldn't pull back.

Audrey slowly turned, so that James was facing the school. It was just in time for him to see the look on Lily's face as she stood behind them. She turned and started to run before he could even manage to break away, and try to explain.

She ran up the stone steps, and through the Entrance Hall. She ran up the Grand Staircase, to the corridor where the Head Dorms were located. She ran to her room and on her way to her bed, picked up anything that reminded her even remotely of James, and one by one, they were broken, torn, and destroyed.

----------X----------

James was left horrorstruck, frozen in place. He jumped away from Audrey in disgust.

"What the hell was that?" he spat furiously.

But without giving her time to answer, he started to run back towards the school, his broom forgotten. Once he reached the Entrance Hall, he followed the exact path Lily had taken only moments before.

He burst into their Common Room and paused to look around. He figured Lily must be in her room, so he went to the magnificent mahogany door that read, 'Head Girl' and tried to open it. It, of course, was locked. With the thought of magic far from his mind, he ran into his room and to the bathroom, where Lily had left her door unlocked. He pulled it open slowly, trembling. Lily didn't even seem to have noticed him enter.

James looked around; it was as if a tornado had ripped through. Numerous things relating to him were strewn across the floor. Cards, letters and pictures torn. The flowers he'd given her last week, which had been on her dresser, were knocked out of their vase, and lay dead on the floor. The necklace he'd given her for Christmas lay against the wall, where it seems she'd thrown it.

"Lils?" he said cautiously.

Lily whipped around. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face was tear-stained. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was tousled. And James still thought she looked beautiful.

"Get OUT!" she bellowed.

"Listen, Lily, you don't understand," he pleaded with her. "_She_ kissed _me_!"

"You didn't try and stop her, James! I was there, I saw it. Don't try and tell me _I_ don't understand!"

"I'm sorry, I-"

"No! Don't give me that bullshit," she nearly screamed. "I should have known this would happen! You are James _'the-toe-rag'_ Potter, after all!"

James flinched at his old nickname.

"You said you'd never do this, but hey, so did Tyler!"

"I know, but I love you! Audrey came on to me," he said. "I didn't want to kiss her! Please, just listen, give me another chance."

"No." was all she said. And she turned back to ripping James out of every picture she had.

----------X----------

Audrey really did feel bad. She could tell by James' reaction that he really did love Lily. And judging by Lily's reaction, she was sure they'd just broken the poor girl's heart. She felt horrible. She really hoped they got through this, no matter what was _supposed_ to happen.

She'd done her part. Although, it had proven harder than she'd expected. She was going to come here, do her job, and then leave. What she hadn't expected, though, was to fall in love. She wasn't supposed to become attached. To any of them. But she did. She really did.

Audrey was taken by surprise when she entered the Common Room and Sirius came stalking over to her. She wondered, stupidly, why he looked so angry.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to his dorm, ignoring the questioning stares they were receiving.

Once they were in the safety of his dorm, Sirius locked the door and whipped her around.

"Ouch, Sirius, not so-" she stopped mid-sentence, terrified by the look on Sirius' face. Fury. Fury, and hurt.

"What the bloody hell, Audrey?" he asked furiously.

"Uh, I- Wh… Er, what do you m-mean?" She squeaked.

"You know bloody well what I mean!" he looked to her side, where she held James' broom.

"I- Sirius, I can explain," she pleaded. "It wasn't what it looked like."

"Oh, right. Because I'm _sure_ I don't know what snogging looks like!" he yelled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"We were _not_… er, snogging," she said a little uncertainly.

"Don't you lie to me, Audrey. I _saw_ you!"

"I was only one kiss," she said. "One lousy, meaningless kiss."

"It doesn't matter how many fucking kisses it was! I should have known, you're just another American Whore," he spat.

Audrey froze, awestruck, tears filling her eyes, then spilling down her cheeks.

"Don't you dare call _me_ names, Sirius Black!" she roared. "You have no fucking room to talk. How does it feel, Hmm? Have you ever even been cheated on before? I doubt it, from what I've heard. Taste your own fucking medicine, why don't you!"

With that, she tore from the room, leaving Sirius looking more than shocked. He fell back onto his bed, thinking over what had just happened. He soon fell into a somewhat forced sleep, and woke a few hours later feeling unrested.

He rolled over to try and fall back asleep, only to find a letter next to his face, on the pillow.

_Sirius,_

_I'm… Gone. I've had about all I can take of this fucking school, and this country, for that matter. Don't expect to see me again. Tell Lily and James that I really am sorry, but that I_ know _they'll be fine. I just know it. I know more about it than they or you may think. Don't underestimate me. Maybe someday, you'll know it all, too. I don't know. And, now, I don't know if I even care, either. I wasn't sure what I'd do after I kissed James. Normally I'd just leave, but it was much more complicated this time. But, thanks to you, it became obvious right away. I was confused, because I did something horrible. Well, horrible for my position. I fell in love. That really made this all much harder than usual. Yes. I loved you. And I'm sorry it had to end this way, but I guess it showed me who you really are. I guess everybody makes mistakes though, right? I could never stay with you, knowing what I know, anyways. I never really thought you could just _stop_ loving someone, but I guess you proved me wrong, again. I'm sorry._

_Good bye,_

_Audrey._

Sirius stared unblinkingly at the letter. It didn't make much sense to him. He read it through a few more times, before deciding he'd have to show it to someone else.

He was getting up to go down into the Common Room when he noticed a familiar lump in the bed next to him. Familiar, but not normal. Not one bit.

He walked over to the lump and took a look at his face. He saw that he wasn't sleeping either. James' hazel eyes stared emotionlessly back at him through his messy black hair.

"Prongs?" he whispered, so as not to wake up the others.

Sirius knew he should be mad at his friend, he had thought he'd wanted to be, but as he looked down at his pathetic form, he realized that this whole situation must have affected him, too. Because through his rage, Sirius had not only seen the kiss, but the redhead that had been, apparently, meant to see it, as well.

James rose slowly from his bed. He swung his legs over the side, and ran a hand through his unruly hair. He looked up at his friend, clearly pained.

"I'm sorry," James said, quietly.

"I know she… she kissed you. I'm not mad at you or anything..."

"No, I'm sorry that she did that. To you, I know how you, you know, felt about her."

"Yeah, well, everybody makes mistakes, right?" he said, realizing painfully that he'd quoted her.

"She left, didn't she?" Sirius nodded. "I heard her come in, earlier. Is that why?"

Sirius followed his friends' gaze to the letter in his hand, and nodded again. They sat in silence a moment before James got up to go down to the Common Room.

Sirius followed him, as he had nothing better to do. They sat there in silence, as well. Until James spoke up.

"I couldn't stand to stay there," he said, answering the question Sirius dared not ask. "She hates me. I don't think she'll ever speak to me again."

"She said she's sorry," Sirius said abruptly, causing James to look curiously at him.

"Who?"

"Audrey. She said she's really sorry, and that she knows you'll be fine. And to not underestimate her and… well, here, just read this." Sirius passed James the letter she'd left him.

James read it through, his expressions varying greatly. Once he'd finished, he simply stared at it for a moment. Then he looked up at Sirius.

"Knowing what she knows? It was more complicated _this_ time? Normally? What does she mean?"

"I have no idea," Sirius said truthfully.

"She's hinting at it like you know. Are you sure she never mentioned anything?"

Sirius thought hard about it. _Knowing what she knows?_ Sirius remembered the first time he kissed her, she'd looked so sad. He then remembered when they'd first met, and she'd done that weird thing in the Great Hall, and then rushed off. He also recalled the many times she visited the Headmaster, though she'd never gotten in real trouble.

"Dumbledore!" Sirius yelled.

"What? Where?" James asked, looking around confusedly.

"No, no. We need to talk to Dumbledore. We need to show him this!" He said madly.

"What? Why would we do that? Sirius, you're not making any sense."

"Because, _loser_, Dumbledore is Audrey's uncle."

**AN: WOW. Wow. It's been a while. And I'm SO sorry about that. You have no idea how bad I feel. SO. Finally the Climax Chapter. How's it feel? It feels way good for me; I've had the climax of this story written since August 06. I just had to build the story up to it. And finally, it's here. I'm pretty happy with it. It may seem confusing to you, but it'll be cleared up in no time. :)**

**I am, however, interested in hearing what you guys think is going to happen. Like what's the deal with Audrey, and whatever. If you don't mind sharing, let me know. :)**

**So, I will really really really really try to get the next one done faster. I have a couple BS classes that I think I can spend time writing in. I **will **try. I promise. First reviewer gets dedication. **

**Love, Lady Carmilla. **


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Disclaimer:** Yeah. I _still_ don't own HP.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **LolaCherryColaGirl

**-Chapter Seventeen-**

"Ah, yes. I received a similar note," Dumbledore said, after he'd read the letter Sirius and James had shown him. "But, you know, it made more sense to me, than it apparently did to you two. Which is understandable, but not desirable. Now I must explain.

"You see, this isn't the first time something like this has happened with Audrey. It's become something of a job," he paused to look at his audience; they were listening readily, however confusedly.

"My niece is a gifted Seer. She has visions, and she acts on them. She saw herself here with you, Mr. Potter, so she came here to fulfill her vision. She has come to me numerous times this year to explain new visions. And although she never came right out and said it, I believe she knows your future, Mr. Black. Or at least, your future as of right now; because futures generally alter, although time has proven that Audrey is usually right," he paused again, allowing this to sink in.

Sirius sat, jaw dropped, across from him. He looked up at his Headmaster, and cocked his head a little. He seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Yes, Mr. Black, its making sense, isn't it?" Sirius nodded. "Well, I also believe she never meant to get so attached to you; to any of you. It's undoubtedly something she wanted to avoid at all costs, actually. But as I understand, you made that rather hard for her.

"And while this may not make much sense to you, it made sense to her. Audrey has been through a lot these past few years. She's learned the hard way that she can't take it into her own hands to try and 'fix' the future.

"Now, you may also wonder why she never told you about her… gift. As I understand it, and if this letter's any proof, the two of you became very close. Well, I know firsthand that Audrey was rather… embarrassed of her gift. It was not one that she enjoyed or wished to think or talk about. She therefore didn't tell anyone she could avoid telling." Sensing Sirius' hurt, he went on. "She didn't even tell her mother until she'd figured it out herself."

He stopped to look at the two dark-haired boys, and asked if he'd answered all their aptly.

"Yes, thank you, Sir," James said, getting up quickly. Sirius followed suit, still slightly dazed.

"Just one more thing, Mr. Black. I must ask that you don't let this affect you negatively. You are young, you'll bounce back. How does that saying go?" He paused, and they looked at him blankly. "Ah, yes, there are many fish in the sea."

Sirius nodded, and whispered thanks before turning to exit the office. Once they were in the corridor, James turned to his mate with a wide grin adorning his bright face.

"What are you so happy about? That was horrible!" Sirius said, sounding disgusted by the thought of happiness.

"Don't you understand what this means?" When Sirius said nothing, he went on. "Lily _has _to take me back now! It was clearly not my fault. It was like… Destiny or something."

Sirius took in his friend's appearance. He looked quite sloppy. They had gone straight to Dumbledore when they'd thought of it. James looked absolutely insane, wearing the same thing he'd had on the day before, but with a smile plastered on his face now.

Sirius couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. Just because he wasn't happy for himself, didn't mean he couldn't be happy for his friend. He knew firsthand how James felt about Lily. He also knew that Lily felt much the same.

----------X----------

Lily had been thinking about James all morning. They hadn't known it, but she'd heard him talking with Sirius in the Gryffindor Common Room earlier that morning. Lily too had sought out the shelter of her old dorm, not wanting to see or hear James. It was a plan that failed miserably.

She had listened curiously as he'd talked with his friend. She had heard the raw emotion in his voice, and although she couldn't make out his expressions, she had a feeling she knew exactly how he felt.

"Lily…? Lily. Lily!?"

Lily snapped to attention. She had managed to zone out, yet again.

"I'm sorry, Remus. I was just wondering about that letter, I really want to read it. I want to find out what made them so thoughtful…. I think we both know thoughtfulness is something they usually lack."

Remus chuckled. But not for the reason Lily assumed. No, Remus didn't laugh at her little joke, he was more or less laughing at _her_.

It was quite clear to him that she still loved James very much. She couldn't have be more obvious. Remus had thought she'd wanted to get her mind _off _of James when she came and sat by him, but she hadn't stopped talking about him since. So, Remus humored her.

"Yes, they do often lack thoughtfulness. It would be interesting to read the letter. You said Audrey left it for Sirius?"

"Yes. I think… Yes, definitely. Can't you ask them to see it? You are supposed to be friends, aren't you?"

"Yes, Lily, I could do that… Or you could just ask to see it," he added thoughtfully.

"Me?! Why would _I _ask them? They would never give it to me," she said, although, she was starting to sound uncertain.

"I'm sure if you asked Sirius, he'd gladly give it to you."

Lily was thinking about this when James walked through the portrait hole. He stopped very suddenly, causing Sirius to run into him.

"What the hell, Prongs? Don't you know how to-" He stopped short when he saw why James had stopped so abruptly. He soon regained composure though, and walked to where Lily and Remus were sitting.

"Moony, Evans," he said, nodding to them respectively before starting towards the boy's staircase and bounding up the stairs.

Once he reached the dorm, he plopped face down on his old bed. He heard the door shut as Sirius followed him in, and sat on his own bed.

"Real smooth," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up."

"What happened to showing her the letter, and telling her about _destiny_?" Sirius teased.

"She's intimidating."

"She is not. She's like half the size of you, you baby."

"She was looking at me all expectantly, like, 'You better not mess this up.'"

"She was not! You need to stop over exaggerating, and get your arse down there, and explain," Sirius informed him. "What happened to the pompous 'I-never-get-nervous' James I used to know and love?"

"He died," James replied, into his pillow.

Sirius looked at his friend, lying there pathetically on the bed. This was really getting old.

"At least your girlfriend didn't leave the fucking country!" He yelled. James looked up just in time to see him stomp out the door.

He stomped all the way down to the Common Room to find Remus with Lily's friends. He looked around curiously.

"Where's-"

"She ran up to our dorm and locked the door," Adrienne replied in a bored voice. "She's being an idiot."

"James, too."

"Hey, Padfoot, can I see that letter?"

Sirius looked up at Remus, and wondered only briefly how he knew about the letter, before handing it over to him to read. Sirius watched as Jade and Adrienne both went to read it over his shoulder. He realized it was something of a personal letter, but found that he didn't care much.

When Remus was through, he passed it to the girls to read properly.

"What does it mean?" Remus asked, curiously.

"She's a Seer. Dumbledore says she does this all the time. That she saw herself here with James, so she came here to… What was it? Oh, 'fulfill her vision'."

Remus looked genuinely intrigued. "A Seer, huh?"

"Yeah."

"That's way cool," Adrienne said, with admiration. Jade nodded her agreement.

"It's still not ok though, what she did to you guys, I mean," Jade admitted, shyly. "Are _you_ ok?"

Sirius looked at Jade for a long moment before he answered. "You know, I think I am."

She smiled, "Well that's good."

"Now, though, we need to help Lily and James," said Sirius determinedly. All eyes, curious, turned to him. "We need to bring them back together, somehow."

Everyone looked thoughtful. Each with a different harebrained idea in their head. Adrienne broke the silence.

"I read a book where, these two people, who hated each other, got locked in, like, a closet, or something, and by the time they got the door opened, they didn't even want to leave."

"What kind of books do you read?" Jade asked, with a laugh. Remus chuckled, as well, but not Sirius. Sirius had a mad glint in his eye. The glint that was saved for certain things; like plans.

**AN: So yes, this one was…. Kinda short, but on the bright side, I just updated twice in 24 hours! That _has_ to count for something. :)**

**Alrighty then. They're on a mission now. I'm totally excited about this story. And, I'm sad to say, the end is drawing near. I'm not quite sure yet, but the next chapter could very well be… the last. Dramatic pause Yeah. I know. Anyways. The faster I get done with this note, the faster I start on the next chapter. **

**First reviewer chapter dedication. (As always) **

**Make me proud. :)**

**Love, Lady Carmilla.**


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Disclaimer:** I don't own HP, duh.

**I dedicate this chapter to: **MegaMegan

**-Chapter Eighteen-**

"Alright Marauders and friends. This is operation-lock-Lily-and-James-in-a-closet-until-they-have-their-tongues-in-each-other's-mouths!" Sirius said proudly, without even stopping to breathe. "We wait for them; push them into a random broom closet then, Voila! Instant snogging!"

"Alright, Padfoot, your insensitivity to the situation is duly noted," Remus said, authoritatively.

"What! You said make a plan, you never said it had to be _sensitive_," he wrinkled his nose, and said the last word with slight disgust.

"Well, still. What did you girls come up with?" he asked Jade and Adrienne.

"More or less the same as his," Adrienne admitted, pointing to Sirius who was lounging on the couch across from them.

"But, we were thinking bigger," Jade continued.

"Like, what if we ditched them in here?" Adrienne said with a sly smile. Remus looked at them curiously.

They were sitting, quite comfortably, in the Room of Requirement, sharing the ideas they'd come up with the night before.

"Lily told us all about this place," said Jade, answering Remus' questioning look. "This is where they had their first kiss."

"Can't get more sensitive than that," Adrienne said, clearly mocking Remus.

"Aw! Moony! That's not fair. You're going to choose theirs, aren't you?" Sirius whined.

"We can use a mixture. It's still your general idea, just in a different place." As an afterthought, he added, "And a different name…"

Adrienne sniggered, causing Sirius to throw her a less than pleasant look.

"Ollajiacuthttieom!" he read off his hand.

"You expect us to remember that?" Adrienne asked him with indignance.

"Sure, it's not hard!"

Remus just shook his head, and turned to the girls.

"What if we call it something simple? Something we can say in normal conversations and without tipping anyone off. I'm pretty sure James would get suspicious if we ran around saying olajisticolatimobe…"

"Ollajiacuthttieom!" Sirius corrected, indignantly.

"Whatever," Remus said, waving him off. "Any ideas?"

"…Pumpkin Pasties?" Jade suggested, wishing they'd gone to dinner before coming here.

"Mmm… Are you hungry, too?" Adrienne asked.

"Yes, why did we have to meet during dinner again?"

Sirius ignored them.

"Just use Ollajiacuthttieom!"

"Would you just give it up? We're not using it."

"I could never!" he said indignantly. "I was up all night coming up with that! I did not waste all that time memorizing it for nothing!"

"What did you say?"

"I was up all-"

"No, before that."

"… I could never?"

"Yes, I could never. That's it."

"Why!? That doesn't even make sense!"

"Exactly. Just live with it, you made it up."

"No, I- oh, yeah. I did…. I WIN! Hah!"

Adrienne rolled her eyes pretty green eyes, and turned to Remus.

"Ok, operation: I Could Never? Let's work out the kinks."

----------X----------

"Lily! Darling, long time no see!"

Lily, who had been sitting in the library reading, looked up to see Sirius Black come and sit across from her. He closed her book, and looked at her with a devilish grin.

"What're you so happy about?" she looked cautiously around. "Is it safe to move?" She asked thinking of his many pranks.

"Of course it is! What're you reading?" he asked conversationally.

"Uh, nothing important," she said, putting away her book. "Why are you here again?"

"_Because_, Evans, I haven't seen you in a while. Sheesh!" he said. "And… I thought maybe you could help me."

Lily looked up at him triumphantly. "Aha, see! I knew you weren't here _just_ to talk to me."

"Well, sure I am. It just also so happens that I need your help… It's for Jade."

Lily looked up again at the mention of her friend.

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked, thinking the worst.

"Oh, no, nothing bad, it's just… You know. Her birthday's coming up, and I may have planned something. And well… I hoped you'd help me; I want it to be a surprise. I need you to bring her to the place…"

Lily looked at him quite suspiciously.

"Why, you hardly know her…"

"Yes, well, thanks for rubbing that in," he said sarcastically. "It's just, I had been getting to know her, you know, before Audrey came. I'd like to pick up where we left off."

Lily looked at him sympathetically.

Sirius didn't like talking about Audrey so casually, but he knew he had to. It was for Lily and James; he'd have to just suck it up.

"Sure, Sirius, I'll help you."

Yet another grin spread across his face.

"Alright, Evans, here's the plan…"

----------X----------

At 9:30 the next night, Lily went to find Jade in the Gryffindor Common Room. She found her easily, as she was sitting alone, reading, by the fire.

"Jade, love, can you come here?"

Jade looked curiously up at her friend, and acted as though she hadn't been waiting for her.

"Hmmm?"

"Come here, please. I… want to show you something… Hey, where is everybody?"

She asked this curiously. Although they both knew she was faking it, and they both knew, or thought they knew, where everyone else was.

"I don't know… I haven't seen anyone, really, since dinner…"

"Oh, well, come on."

They got up and walked to the portrait hole, and quickly exited Gryffindor Tower, both anxious. Lily was going over 'The Plan' in her head, and didn't even notice that Jade, who wasn't even supposed to know where they were going, was now leading the way.

Lily was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Jade stopped walking, either, and ended up walking right into her back.

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly.

She looked behind Jade to see Sirius standing against the door to the party. But Sirius wasn't supposed to be out here. Lily wondered why he'd changed the plan.

Sirius motioned for Lily to 'Come Here'. She walked forward, ever confused.

"Sirius, wh-"

Sirius hushed her mid-sentence. He shook his head, and grabbed her hand, pulling her into a friendly hug.

"Good luck," she heard him whisper before opening the door and giving her a shove inside.

Lily stumbled into a warmly lit room that resembled a den, or family room. The walls were a rich burgundy color, and the floors hard wood.

Lily didn't pause to take in her surroundings, though, because she quickly turned to the dark wood door. It had been closed behind her. She tried the surprisingly cold brass door knob, but the door didn't budge.

Lily was surprised, to say the least. She banged on the door.

"Jade!? Jade, let me out!"

"It's no use," said a bored voice from behind her. She whipped around.

"You?! What did _you_ do?"

James looked at her incredulously. "You think _I _did this? You think I _want _to be locked in here with a crazy redheaded pillock that hates my guts?"

"It never stopped you before!" she spat venomously.

"Yeah, well, it's not before anymore, is it?"

She said nothing. She sat on the couch farthest from James, counting ceiling tiles.

"You want to know something funny?" Lily asked abruptly with a derisive laugh.

"No," he said curtly, but she went on anyways.

"The thing I didn't want to tell you, that one day, was that I thought you were being too friendly with that girl in potions. I thought you'd cheated."

James' eyes snapped to hers.

"You what? You… _You thought I cheated_?"

"Well, you did anyways, in the end, didn't you?"

Lily noticed that James' hazel eyes, which were previously blank, were now filled with hurt. As he looked at her, her words stung in his mind.

"No," he said with finality. "I didn't."

Lily looked at James, tears filling her eyes. His reaction to her words had been genuine.

She noticed something on the table between them. She looked down at it curiously. It was a letter. As she stared at it more, she realized it was _the _letter. The one Audrey had left for Sirius.

She looked over at James, who was focused on a piece of shabby parchment, and dared to grab the letter. James paid her no heed.

She turned her back to him and began to read. Once she was done, she froze. This letter made it sound like Audrey had done all this on purpose, like she'd done it before. But it just didn't make sense to her.

"She's a Seer," James' voice was bored again.

"She's a…" Lily took a deep breath, feeling oddly queasy. "A Seer?"

"Yes… Lily, are you alright?" he asked with sudden worry.

"Um, yes, I'm fine," she said with a sigh. "So she…?"

"Had a vision, and came here to fulfill it," he said, as though he'd shared these words on numerous occasions.

Lily looked back down at the letter in her hands.

"It… It wasn't your fault at all," she said, feeling stupid. James didn't say anything. "James, I'm… I'm sorry."

"Well, isn't that nice?" James said with coldness he himself hadn't expected. Lily looked at him wide-eyed.

"James! I'm sorry," she repeated. "Listen to me James. You _have_ to forgive me."

James looked at her teary eyes, and for the first time, had no desire to wipe the wetness from her rosy cheeks.

She'd finally said the words he'd wanted to hear for so long, but suddenly, they didn't seem so right.

"No," he said. "No I don't."

"I… But- James?" she slurred through her tears. "Why?"

"I've been waiting along time to hear you say that," he said. "But, Lily, it won't change the fact that _you didn't trust me_."

Lily nearly choked, "But James, I'm s-sorry! I'm _so_ sorry. I love you."

"I know, but right now, I just need to be without you, I- I need to think."

Lily gasped, "Without me? No, James, I need you, I miss you!"

"Lily, just stop it. I said I'll think on it."

He picked up the piece of parchment he'd had earlier up off the seat. He studied it, then got up and walked to the door.

"Padfoot!" he yelled. "Open the door!"

He waited, unmoving, for a moment before the spell was taken successfully off the door.

Sirius and Jade stood outside with expectant looks on their faces. Sirius noticed James seething and looked inside to see Lily nearly sobbing on one of the luxurious couches.

"Prongs, what happened?" he asked, the grin sliding right off his previously cheerful face.

James just walked past him and started off in no particular direction.

Jade rushed in the room James had just exited, and hurried to comfort Lily.

"Lily, love, what happened?" she asked in a somewhat motherly voice.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said stubbornly, with a sniff. She scrambled from the couch. She ran into the corridor to see James turn the corner, and quickly turned to stalk off in the opposite direction, leaving their friends looking utterly perplexed.

"I don't want to have to tell Moony about this one… He'd eat me... _With ketchup!_" He said, trying to lighten the mood. "…Not it!"

Jade couldn't help but smile a little.

"Come on," she said with a sigh. And they started off towards Gryffindor Tower with slight reluctance.

---------X----------

James, who'd let his feet carry him without paying much attention, ended up in the Astronomy tower. He looked around, sighed, and slid down a nearby wall.

He sat in thought for awhile, before pulling out his ever handy parchment.

He whispered, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."_

Ink appeared in spirals on the paper. The spirals quickly formed a map. His troubled eyes quickly scanned the newly formed map for a certain redhead.

----------X----------

"You know… You really shouldn't be wandering around the halls alone, this late at night. You're a foolish little Mudblood, aren't you?"

Lily turned around slowly to see two hooded figures standing in the shadows behind her. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"Awww, what's wrong, afwaid? Are you afwaid of the big bad purebloods?" said the other figure.

The second voice was female, and Lily was pretty sure it belonged to Sirius' cousin, Bellatrix, but she wasn't sure. And she couldn't place the other, though, it sounded familiar.

"Too bad your stupid Blood Traitor boyfriend isn't here to save you, huh?"

Lily's tears, which had slowed, were now flowing freely, again, from her green almond-shaped eyes.

"Leave me alone!" was all she was able to say before she was hit square in the chest with a silent spell.

She fell over to the ground, gasping for breath. Her vision began to blur, and she felt as though knives were being pushed into her everywhere.

The pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced, and she was sure, like nothing she'd ever experience again. At least, that's what she hoped. She just wished it would end. Her life, or the pain, whichever came first. Both seemed like a blessing.

The last thing Lily heard, before she lost consciousness was a familiar voice yelling. She tried to tell him to keep it down, but for some reason she couldn't fathom, no words escaped her lips.

----------X----------

Lily opened her eyes, and instantly regretted it as light poured into her dilated pupils. Once her eyes were used to the light, she began to take in her surroundings. Nearly everything was white; she was either dead, or in the hospital wing.

She chose the latter, however, when she turned to her right to find the sleeping form of one, James Potter. He was sitting uncomfortably in an armchair next to Lily's bed.

She watched as his chest rose and fell. She noticed he looked… _terrible_. He seemed dirty, and tired. And although he was sleeping now, Lily doubted he'd had a good night's sleep in quite some time.

She was watching him peacefully when one of his eyes fluttered open. The other quickly followed as he noticed Lily's own brilliant eyes staring at him.

"Lily?" he said, jumping from his seat. "Oh Merlin, Lily."

He approached her and quickly took her in a hug. He released her, however, when he heard her rather sharp intake of breath.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly.

Lily rubbed her sides tenderly. "How… How long have I been out?"

"A few days… It's felt like forever, though."

Lily considered this, and then asked, "W-what happened? How'd I even get _here_?"

"Well, I had walked up the Astronomy Tower, and when I got there, I decided to check the Map to see who was on duty. I saw your dot headed towards Gryffindor Tower, which was normal enough, but then, I saw two Slytherin dots close behind you," he said. "When I got there, though, you were lying on the ground and… and, Lily, I thought you might be _dead_. It was horrible. You weren't moving, and you were barley breathing. You were so cold…"

Lily looked at him and thought she would surely start crying again if he kept talking.

"Lily," James breathed, taking her hand in his. "Lily, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me?"

Lily's breath caught in her throat. Tears were streaming from her eyes, yet again.

"Lily… Oh, Lily, don't cry," he moved to wipe her tears away, but she grabbed his hand.

"James, d-don't apologize. I s-should have t-trusted you. Can you forgive _me_?"

"Oh, Lils, I already have," he said before kissing her meaningfully on the mouth.

Lily sat up, and James sat on the bed next to her, never once breaking contact. James let his hand tangle in Lily's fiery locks as he held her face to his.

When they'd stopped, finally, they were both panting deeply. They had put everything into that kiss. It had been so long since their last.

"James, I-"

Lily's words were cut off, however, as James put his rough finger to her lips. She kissed it lightly, before it was replaced with James' lips.

He pulled away, and moved to lie back on the pillow, Lily followed suit. She looked over at him, and laid her head on his chest. James wrapped his arms around her protectively, and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you," he murmured into her hair.

"I love you, too."

**¡El Fin!**

**AN: OMFG. OMFG. OMFG. It's done… That's it. 'Tis all over… **

**I'm so excited to be able to change it to 'COMPLETE'. This is a major accomplishment for Moi, and I'm very happy. I would like to thank the Academy… No. Not really, Lol, I want to thank my reviewers!**

**If it wasn't for you guys, I may have never had the motivation to finish this. I hope you're happy with it. I. LOVE. YOU. ALL. xD**

**Any questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know. For serious. I like to think that my somewhat mysterious moments in this story added to the 'plus' side, but I could be completely biased, since you know, I wrote it… So, if there's anything you need me to explain, just ask. All reviews are appreciated, and every reviewer gets a last chapter cookie. :)**

**Once again: I LOVE YOU GUYS!**

**Love, Lady Carmilla. **


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